It Had To Be You
by A.Single.Gal
Summary: Clawen AU. Single parents to trouble makers Mason and Lizzie, Claire Dearing and Owen Grady cross paths after being forced to look after their own kids during a school trip to the zoo. Would the chaos surrounding their children bring them together or leave them not wanting anything to do with each other? Sequel can be found on Archive of Our Own
1. Chapter 1

Claire and her seven year old son Mason were having dinner at his favorite restaurant. Every seven-year-old's favorite restaurant was Chuck E Cheese's, so there she was at a small table making sure her son ate his slices.

He had chocolate brown hair like his father and a beautiful pair of green eyes he got from his mother. He also had freckles sparkled across his nose.

Manson liked to pinch out the pepperoni and eat it first and then pinch off the cheese leaving the crust and sauce untouched — if you could call it that.

This frustrated the redhead, he did that every time and always ended up a mess. His fingers dirty with the sauce. It seemed the tomato sauce ended all over his face and even his clothes at times, basically everywhere but his tummy.

It didn't matter how much she tried beg him to use his fork and knife to cut little pieces; just like she did with hers, and to eat the whole thing... the kid wouldn't listen.

He was as stubborn as his dad. Claire had married Manson's father after finding out she was pregnant, the marriage didn't last and they got divorced when the kid was about three years old.

He was a musician, a guitar player. His band did very well regionally and was starting to gain momentum. He was never around, always having gigs and tours.

Claire couldn't say anything about the matter; she was a workaholic. She was the morning shift manager at a prehistoric museum, but she was always engaging in all sorts of projects that kept her work hours tight.

"Manson, please." She insisted after licking her lips and reaching for a pack of wipes out of her purse.

She slid closer along their booth and started cleaning his son. "Do you want to get this to go?" She asked about the few slices of pizza that were left.

The kid nodded with a big grin while his mother cleaned his cheeks. It took Claire about five wipes to clean his face and hands.

It was until they got to the door when Claire noticed it was pouring outside. In her evening rush, between picking Manson after work and figuring out where to get dinner, she had forgotten to grab an umbrella.

Their cab was waiting for them in front of the entrance. There were at least sixteen feet between the door and the cab.

She took off her coat and held it over her head, asking Mason to stay close to her under the little tent she was doing with the coat.

"At the count of three, you run as fast as you can and jump into the back seat, okay?" Claire instructed.

She was wearing a skirt suit and high heels; how that woman would rush over the wet pavement and fly into that back seat with her toddler, was something to be seen.

They were standing under the little roof outside the door while she gathered her self together for this.

"Yes, mommy." He nodded with determination.

"One...Two...Th—"

"I got this." A man stopped her. He was wearing a raincoat, it was hard to see his face over her coat. All that mattered to Claire at the moment was that he had an umbrella over their heads and was willing to walk them over to their cab.

The three of them rushed and he stood there holding the umbrella over the little duo until it was safe to close the car door behind them.

He didn't wait for Claire to be able to thank him, he had to rush back to his own cab which waiting for him behind hers. His little girl was waiting for him there, too.

At home, it was a struggle to get Manson in bed. Claire always made sure he would brush his teeth and wore clean pajamas to bed. It almost felt like he wore a fresh pair every night, he was always spilling something over himself — or her, for that matter.

She tucked him under the covers and kissed his forehead gently.

"Can Rexy have a kiss too?" He asked upon reaching out with his favorite stuffed animal. It was a T-Rex plush toy he had had since he was a baby. They were from the museum's gift shop.

Mason had a fascination for dinosaurs; his room made this evident. Everything in it was dinosaur themed, from the wallpaper to the sheets and covers on his bed. He had been growing up surrounded by them, after all.

"Of course." Claire nodded and taking the green plush, she gently placed a kiss on the top of its snout. "Goodnight, Rexy." She offered softly. "Goodnight, sweetie." She added before leaving one last kiss on her son's forehead.

She tucked the toy under the sheets next to him, turned his nightstand light off, and slowly headed out of his room.

Claire headed to the kitchen, she poured herself half a glass of wine, and headed over to her bedroom.

Her bed was filled with little notes and files. Her laptop waiting for her so she could go back to work. The alarm clock on her night stand reading it was eight in the evening. She still had a couple of hours left to work on this little presentation she had for her boss the following morning.

* * *

Owen, the mysterious man who had helped Claire and her son get to their ride earlier, was also a single parent.

Unlike the redhead, he didn't live with Isabella, her father's pet name for her was _lizard_ but everybody else called her Lizzie. The nickname came because she liked wondering around and was always squeezing into small places when playing or when chasing cats.

She had long sandy blonde hair like her mom and Owen's hazel eyes.

"Ready to dig into the left overs?" He wondered the moment they had made it home.

"Yessssssss!" The very hyped seven year old exclaimed.

He threw the few slices they had brought home into the microwave to reheat them and once he took them out, he put some MMs and gummy worms on them.

Lizzie had already ran over to her things. She didn't have a room at her dad's, so her bag was still sitting by the couch in his apartment.

Her mom had decided it was her turn to have some fun and had taken a week vacation in Hawaii with her new husband, leaving her daughter with the father.

Owen had little time to prepare for this and so he had to improvise. This was the first night she'd spend with him, so the couch would be her test run bed.

"Do you want a chocolate surprise or a sour bolt." He wondered while walking over to the living room with the pizza and a couple of sodas.

"Chocolate surprise!" The girl bounced on the cushion while hugging her favorite toy.

A raptor plush toy, "can Blue have some gummy worms, though?" She wondered. That was the name she had picked for her stuffed animal which, yes, it was blue colored.

"I don't think raptors eat worms." Owen laughed as he picked up the remote and set up a movie for them to watch.

"Birds eat worms." She explained, "birds evolved from raptors!" She had learned that in school.

She loved dinosaurs, maybe this was a phase every kid between the ages of six and eight had.

"Touché." Owen went along and picked one of the gummy worms from his pizza and placed it on her plate before handing it over.

"Can we watch Frozen?" She wondered.

"Ugh. No." He put Tangled on, instead.

Lizzie didn't complain, she hadn't watched that one before and Rapunzel was pretty enough to catch her attention.

"Can you drink from the can?" Owen wondered as he opened a cherry coke for her.

Lizzie nodded, her eyes glued to the screen while her feet wiggled about to the rhythm of 'When Will My Life Begin'.

* * *

"Mommy?" Manson called out while rubbing his eyes.

It was eleven at night, Claire was still awake, working on that project she had due the next day.

"What are you doing up?" She put everything down, her attention on her son.

"I'm thirsty."

The redhead nodded and walked over to the kitchen, she poured him a glass of water and helped him back to bed.

The same ritual where she had to say goodnight to his toy was repeated and once she made sure he was asleep, Claire went back to her room.

They lived in a small apartment, her room was just across the small hall from his.

Exactly forty-five minutes later, Manson was back in her room. He had to pee, so was saying goodnight.

He ran to her bed and climbed onto it, he crawled all over her work to get to her and hugged her.

"I love you, Mommy." He offered and kissed her cheek.

"I love you too, champ." She smiled and pushed his hair back.

The redhead let him stay in bed with her after he begged, she insisted it would only be for five minutes. They both fell asleep before she could take him back to his room.

Back at Owen's apartment, Lizzie had fallen asleep half way into Moana which was the movie they were watching after Tangled.

The kid had her head on Owen's lap, curled on the couch under a blanket he had found in her bag.

He didn't dare move so once the movie was over, he turned the tv off and adjusted so he could catch some sleep.

The next day both kids were to have an exciting day. Their class would be having a field trip to Tisch Children's Zoo.


	2. Chapter 2

"Manson! Shower!" Claire called out from the bathroom. She had just stepped out of one herself. She had her towel wrapped around her body while she brushed her soaked red hair. "You are going to be late!" She called out after a few seconds. She had all sorts of beauty products on the sink counter from body lotions to facial creams and a few types of shampoo and air conditioner. She grabbed her vanilla body lotion and rubbed some on her arms and collar bone.

"Manson, I'm counting to three!" She had to call out for him again. It was then when she could finally hear her son coming out of his room. She set her foot on the edge of the bathtub and rubbed some of the lotion on one leg, then repeated the same on the other.

Claire looked around just to find her son wearing his swim trunks, a water mask, and snorkel. She stopped him on his tracks before he could step into the bathtub and took the mask and snorkel off. "The moment I'm out, you take those off." She instructed about the swim trunks. "If you miss the bus, I swear." She added.

"Yes, mom." The kid turned the hot water on, disappointment in his voice.

"You know I can't afford take you to the zoo myself, I —"

"You have that thing from work, I know." He nodded his voice almost sounded robotic, he was only seven and already could tell when his mom would give him that line.

Claire gave him a look and gathering her laundry she stepped out of the bathroom and closed the door behind her, "you have ten minutes."

Claire walked over to her room so she could change, it was an important day at work for her so she decided to look the most presentable she could. She had decided to wear a midnight blue ruched sheath knee-length dress. She was stepping into her high heels when she heard her son running out of the bathroom.

Claire then headed back to the bathroom and if it weren't for her quick reflexes having her hold tightly to the door frame, she would have slipped and possibly break her ass on the fall. She looked around to find out that her son had left the floor all wet, which wasn't the first time he did. It upset her every time he did. "Manson!" She called out. "What have I told you about drying the floor after you shower?" She frowned, she really didn't have time for this. She grabbed her hair dryer and started to do her hair.

Once the kid was changed into a pair of jeans and a green shirt he headed over to the supplies closet, he pulled the mop out of it, and walked over to the bathroom. He quietly started to clean the floor until it was dried.

"Thank you." The redhead looked down with a smile while she kept working on her long hair. "Can you toast some pop tarts for breakfast? Or some waffles?" She always kept those around to feed him when they were running late.

The kid nodded and headed over to the kitchen, on his way he placed the mop back in the supplies closet. He pulled a chair out from their small dining room table and dragged it over to the kitchen counter. He carefully stood up on the chair so he could reach the cupboard drawer and fetch for the pop tart box. He took out a couple of cherry flavored ones and set the box back on its place. Mom always said he had to leave the things he took back where he had found them.

He managed to open the metallic pop tart package by himself and decided to eat them without heating them; he was a lazy little guy. Claire was always saying he had gotten that from his father.

"Zipper." Claire smiled now standing by his chair. She turned around for her son whom held the whole pop tart on his mouth and smoothly pulled the zipper up for her. The redhead turned back around and kissed his forehead, "thank you, babe. Now hurry with that pop tart, you still have to brush your teeth." She carried him down the chair and watched him run back to his room. She brought the chair back to its place and grabbed his backpack.

* * *

Owen had woken up with a horrible neck pain, maybe it was from the bad position he had slept in, not it most definitely was because of that reason.

"So at what time is your zoo thing?" Owen wondered.

"At eight!" Lizzie was the most energetic little girl. She couldn't stay still, she was always running about or twirling around. She had Blue with her while she explored around her dad's loft.

"So I just drop you off school and you are good?" He had no idea how these things work. The bachelor was trying to find a suitable outfit for his daughter to wear on her field trip. He figured jeans was the best choice.

"No. You have to come with me remember?" She filled him in, her mom had actually forgotten to tell him this. "Ms. Carr said mommy had to come to the zoo with me and hold my hand at all times." She pouted. "I don't even know why, I'm not a little girl anymore." She frowned offended.

Little did Owen know the true reason behind the request to have a parent or guardian with Lizzie on future field trips. "It's okay, kiddo. We will just pretend to hold hands in front of Ms. Carr." He rolled his eyes playfully and tickled his daughter to make her giggle. "Now go to the bathroom and change into this." He handed her over the pair of jeans and top he had picked for her.

"But I want to wear my dress." She shook her head. She handed the outfit back and she went looking for the outfit she wanted to wear. She pulled out her dress and showed it to Owen.

"How about you were both?" He tried to negotiate, he truly thought it would be best if she wore jeans, and there were not written rules anywhere saying she couldn't wear them under her dress.

Lizzie nodded and taking the jeans back from her dad, she ran to the bathroom.

There was a small local ice-cream shop in the bottom floor at the building were Owen lived, the owner was the sweetest of old ladies. She had had that shop since she was a young woman looking for independence. She had never had children of her own, but loved them dearly.

Owen and Lizzie had agreed to stop by to visit her and have a sundae for breakfast. The blonde little girl was taking advantage of the old lady's love for kids and getting freeloaded on toppings.

"Mom would have never let me have ice-cream for breakfast!" She nibbled on her spoon, "or any meal." She laughed.

"Yeah, well, mom isn't here so." Owen shrugged and enjoyed his own sundae while eyeing how his daughter was happily eating beside him. "Do you know what a brain freeze is!?" He smiled mischievously.

"No." The little girl shook her head, "but sounds like fun!" She grinned.

"At the count of three we start eating as much ice-cream as fast as we can, ready?"

"Yes!" She adjusted and set her spoon ready for her dad's countdown.

"One...two...three!" Owen did as agreed and started to eat that ice-cream down until getting the famous brain freeze. He laughed once Lizzie felt it too.

"Ouch..." The little girl let go of her spoon and rested her sticky fingers on her forehead. She was soon laughing along but didn't feel like doing it again any time soon.

* * *

"No, Ms. Carr, I understand but see...I can't today." Claire begged the teacher whom had just reminded her that Manson was required to take any field trip with a parent or guardian.

"She has this thing at work." Manson nodded; he even sounded condescending.

"Ms. Dearing, you and Mrs. Johnson were both sitting in my classroom when you signed the condition." She recalled. The teacher was beyond done with both kids and couldn't wait for the school year to be over. She stepped onto the bus and left Claire behind to figure out if she was going to board the bus with her son or take him back with her.

The redhead looked down to her son who seems disappointed, "Come here." She took his hand and walked over to a near by bench. She set his backpack down and took her iPhone out from her purse. She went through her contacts and once she dialed the one she needed, she brought the phone to her ear.

"No." Karen, her sister immediately turned her down.

"But—-"

"No, Claire. I have my own stuff going on."

"Karen please. You should see his face, he would be devastated if he missed this field trip." The redhead begged her eldest sister.

"Then you take him."

"I can't, you know I would if I could." She frowned while keeping Manson's hand in her free one.

"I'm sorry, Claire." Karen had given up on babysitting Manson a long time ago. It wasn't because she thought her younger sister should try arrange her life better and find more time for him; she was actually doing pretty good for being a single mother and she admired that.

"But—" The redhead got distracted by the sound of a bike pulling over by the parking space next the bench.

"Claire?"

"I have to go." The redhead hung up, her green eyes quietly studying the man who had just stepped off that black Scrambler. He was with his daughter, whose face she missed since he had had her wear his helmet through out the ride over to school.

She watched both father and daughter bicker about how she didn't want to take the helmet off and that maybe it would come handy on the bus too. Claire couldn't help smile to herself at how cute the little duo was, and unconsciously tucked some of her red hair behind her ear fixing it a little.

She couldn't help but follow them with her eyes and even tilt her head while she checked out his ass. "Mom, you are blushing." Manson noticed and brought her back to reality.

"C'mon, lets get on that bus before we miss it." She gathered their things and keeping her son's hand on hers, they walked over and stepped on.

Claire took the first row and let him have the window seat. She set everything on their seat between them and keeping her cell in her hand, she dialed work.

"Claire!" A cheerful male voice with a thick Indian accent greeted her.

"Good morning, Mr. Masrani." The redhead sounded apologetic. "I know we have the presentation for the new wing this morning." She started. They were thinking on remodeling the wing they had dedicated for dinosaurs at the museum. She had worked on a proposition on how to make it more interactive and appealing for their visitors. Claire was hoping to impress her boss and maybe get promoted to department manager and have the whole wing under her charge.

"Yes, at ten, correct?" Simon Masrani, her boss and owner of the museum, had always been impressed by the young lady. Since the moment they had met and he was hoping she could keep growing inside the museum.

"Well—" She paused and took a deep breath, trying to find a way to explain how she wouldn't be able to make it because she was on a school bus on her way to the zoo with her son and his class.

Manson was kneeled on the bus seat while playing with one of his car toys, he rolled it over the window making noises with his lips. "Manson, sit straight please".

"Claire?" Her boss called out hearing she had gotten distracted. Simon was a very open minded man, and the single mom should try take advantage of his understanding nature. It made her feel bad that he seemed to give her son a better priority than she sometimes would.

Mason didn't listen to his mother, instead he looked around the bus and found all his classmates playing and singing about. He spot Lizzie sitting on the back seat with her dad, both kids waved at each other.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to make it. My son has this school trip and I was requested to come with his class for adult supervision support." She wasn't lying, she basically had to take care of her son because the teacher couldn't handle him. The son that was now sneaking under the bus seat while she was distracted hoping her boss would understand.

Lizzie had waited for Owen to get distracted as well before following Manson's action and sliding under the bus seats. Both kids met at an empty one just a few rows between their parents. The blonde girl motioned for her best friend to look down, she was showing him something she had brought with her and was now holding in her hands. The brunette kid grinned at it and reached out to take one of the things she was offering.

"That's fine, Claire! Your son needs you, you go enjoy yourself and get that much needed sun." He teased her. "You are so pale, like a ghost! Get a tan, girl." He suggested. "We can reschedule after lunch once you are back from the trip." He still expected her to make it to work after.

"Thank you, sir." She smiled relieved as the phone call ended. She could finally relax and it was then when she heard the entire bus laughing. She looked over to ask her son what she had missed but he was not there.

"Manson?" She looked back and found him about five rows back with Lizzie blowing what the kids thought were balloons Owen kept in the drawer of his bathroom counter.

They would blow them and release them so they could see them fly across the bus. All the kids were enthusiastically trying to grab one in the air.

"We have an entire box so there are plenty for everybody!" The blonde girl announced, but the fun was cut short when Claire ran over and took the box away from her.

"Where did you get this?" Claire asked the little girl, her voice very serious as she took a seat next to them, letting the kids sit together for the rest of the bus ride over to the zoo, but with adult supervision like the teacher demanded.

"They are my dad's. I don't understand what he needs so many white balloons for." She asked puzzled.

"Mommy, do you know what he would need so many white balloons for?" Manson asked curious.


	3. Chapter 3

Once at the zoo, Claire had stopped by the gift shop to get some sunscreen. She hadn't expected to be dragged into a day under the sun to take care of her child. You would assume that was the teacher's job. The redhead had woken up that day with her mind set and ready to leave her boss seeing stars after her presentation, but instead she was now buying some essentials she needed in order to avoid ending up looking like a lobster by the end of the day.

She was by the lotion stand, trying to decide which brand to get. She had plenty sunscreen at home so she didn't want to spend too much money on it, but at the same time she didn't want to go too cheap; burning was never a fun game for redheads.

She was trying to decide between a SPF40 or a cucumber based SPF30, "Manson, stay close!" She called out, feeling her son once again sneaking around. She looked up and scanned the store for the seven-year-old. He was by the hats with his best friend. Claire smiled to herself, her eyes quickly catching the attractive young man from the bus standing a few steps away from that hat rack.

She nibbled on her lower lip, thinking about that ignominious moment the kids had caused. She had noticed him on the back seat laughing along to the kids' questions which she too had been wanting to do, but it would only have enabled them and as a mother she couldn't afford that.

She had asked him for some help, but he had brushed her off saying it seemed she had it all under control. She shook her head at the thought and noticed him looking up from the two items he was holding, he too was doing some last minute shopping.

Claire was quick but casual when bringing her attention back to the sunscreen bottles she was holding. She cleared her throat and placed both back on the stand.

He smiled at the sight of that beautiful redhead casually shopping around. He was the kind of bachelor who was pretty much used to having women staring. As a matter of fact, Claire hadn't been the only one checking him out. There were a couple of young women flirting with their smile, but his attention went to the pair of green eyes he had felt on him not two seconds ago.

He had two different types of cookies in his hands. He wasn't sure which one to get for his daughter. He had forgotten to pack her some snacks, Owen had seen how every kid on the bus had a lunch box with them. He didn't want to seem like he had forgotten so here he was, trying to guess which kind of cookie Lizzie liked.

His hazel eyes were distracted, watching the woman in midnight-blue having a similar struggle to his. Unlike her, he couldn't avoid getting caught staring. Claire had brought her sight back up from the many lotion options in front of her and noticed him smiling over.

Her lips slowly curled up offering a gentle smile. He looked around and casually brought both cookie packages up so she could see them, "care to help?" He chuckled.

"It looks like you have it all under control." She flirted, that's the line he had given her on the bus.

He chuckled and nodded, "I deserved that." He agreed. "I'm Owen, and I can be an asshole sometimes." He introduced himself with a cheeky grin. "What can I say, women actually find that irresistible." He laughed teasing her, before she could say anything about his peculiar pick-up line.

The redhead found herself walking over, she had decided to take a water-proof SPF50 lotion, just in case. She stopped a few inches away from him. She quickly made sure Manson was still around, he had now ran over with Lizzie towards the lotion stand. "Claire, and I can be a real pain in the ass if provoked." She smiled, playing along. "And do we?" She asked, unable to stop herself from biting on the inside of her lip.

"I don't know, you tell me?" He kept flirting, his experience letting him know she was totally into it, this for the way she was smiling at him and how her eyes would shift between his eyes and his lips.

"So far, so good." She tucked her red hair behind her ears with her free hand and licking her lips before looking over to his hands. "So what do you need help with?" She wondered.

"Promise you won't think I'm the kind of father who can't even buy his daughter some cookies." He laughed.

"...but you are totally the kind of father who can't even buy his daughter some cookies." She finished for him.

"Yeah~"

Claire laughed and shook her head.

"It's just that I almost never get to spend time with her and now that I have this opportunity ...I really want to impress her, you know." He rubbed the back of his head. "I don't think she's the picky kind, but I just don't want to screw up this one shot." He filled her in without giving too much information about his situation.

"I think that's cute." She shrugged lightly. "Not many separated dads take the opportunity to spend a day with their kids and try impress them." The redhead knew that first hand; her ex-husband barely made time for Manson and he was always only setting his hopes up to have them crushed.

"Do you find it cute or...sexy?" He wiggled his eyebrow.

Claire laughed, "a little bit of both." She confessed. She licked her lower lip and brought her left hand up to her face, she used her ring finger to rubbed her forehead lightly; thinking about his options regarding those cookies.

Owen took noticed of this, it had been a very discrete move on her end but he was reading it as her way to let him know she was very much single and interested. In a man's mind, the interested part was a literal translation of wanting to sleep with them and he was very much interested in that, too.

Claire reached out for the two types of cookies he had picked. "It really depends on the kid, mine loves chocolate chip flavored, and hates it when they have almonds in them." She advised, seeing how Owen had both kinds in his hands; with or without almonds. "However, his best friend goes crazy for peanut butter ones and they are always picking them apart seeking for the little almonds so she can have them." She laughed lightly.

"If you were a clueless single dad, which one would you get?" He asked softly, making sure to slip the word single in there.

"The one without almonds." She had her reasons behind that logic, but was interested to see how much thought he was putting into all this.

"Thank you." He did as suggested and decided to get the chocolate chips no almonds ones. He already had a soda, a bag of chips, and some candy with him to complete the last-minute snack he was putting together.

They both started to walk towards the cashier, get in line so they could pay for their things. The redhead nodded, it had been no problem. "Is that what you are giving her to drink?" She asked about the cherry coke soda he was holding.

"No." He figured it wouldn't be a good idea now that he was seeing her face. He put it back in the cooler by them and instead fetched a cherry juice box out of it. "I've noticed we are the only two parents on the trip," He smiled, "maybe we should stick together...you know, for survival."

The redhead chuckled at his little line.

"Too cheesy?" Owen wondered wrinkling his nose.

"No." She assured him, letting her eyes fall on his, she nodded softly. "Full disclosure, my kid comes with an unwritten warning." She pursed her lips, noticing how the space between them had been slowly gotten narrowed.

"So do I~" He smiled, making her blush.

Their little moment got abruptly interrupted when Manson ran over and slid his little body between them. Claire felt her son's presence and closed her eyes for a second before looking down at him.

Lizzie was standing behind the redhead, both kids were holding a bottle of sunscreen lotion up, using them as guns and squeezing them so they could 'shoot' some 'lethal substance' at each other. Both kids had lotion all over their clothes, hair, arms, and face by then.

Claire was embarrassed to say the least. So much for trying to flirt with him and make some sort of impression. She took the bottle away from her son, which made him complain. "Manson, c'mon." She shook her head. "Whose idea was this?" She frowned, her hands reaching down and cleaning his face a little bit.

Manson pointed out towards the girl, but when Claire turned over she found Lizzie pointing back at Manson. "I'm sorry." Claire blushed, covering her face with her hands. "This is my son and his best friend..." She filled Owen in, an apologetic tone in her voice, but she had to stop herself from continuing when she saw Lizzie now by Owen smiling up while he tried clean the lotion from her face and put it back into the bottle.

"I guess this is why we were required to be on this trip." He laughed. It was until now when he had understood what his daughter meant when she said the teacher wanted him to hold her hand at all times. The kids simply couldn't be left out of sight for more than five seconds.

Claire didn't laugh this time, she just looked at him with a frown in her face. "You are Brenda's ex-husband." She figured out loud.

"I better switch these to peanut butter, huh." He smiled remembering she said Lizzie liked those. He handed the girl all her snacks and switched the cookies around.

"I guess this is yours, then." Claire ignored his comment about the cookies and reached into her purse, bringing the half empty box of condoms out of it and showing it to him.

"King size." He offered a side smirk, "intimidated?" He offered the same kind of humor he had been using for the past few minutes, the kind he had noticed she had a positive reaction to, at least in the past few minutes she had.

Claire rolled her eyes, "Anaconda, Mega, King, whatever..." She pushed the box against his chest before letting go of it for him to take, "it only measures the size of your ego, I'm pretty sure you are just average down there." She looked down to his crutch and back to his eyes, not impressed at all.

The redhead took her son's hand on hers and walked over to the register so she could pay for both her sunscreen lotion and the one Mason had misused.

* * *

Outside the gift shop, Claire had found a bench where she could properly clean her son. She was sitting on it, his backpack by her side. Manson was standing on one side of her legs. She was taking advantage of the massive amount of lotion he had on his face and arms to rub on him and using what was left on her hands she rubbed some on her own arms. She then pulled his shirt off over his head and brought a fresh one out of his backpack. She put it on him and put the dirty one in a plastic bag. "Do you think you can stay clean for at least three hours?" She asked her kid before pressing a kiss on his cheek.

"No!" He laughed before nodding, "yes, mommy." He smiled.

Claire then took some wipes out of his backpack and started cleaning his hair with them. "I hope you learn your lesson after spending all day with your hair smelling like baby butt." She laughed.

Owen was witnessing all this from the other end of the bench. He was not prepared for this. So he was mirroring her actions in what was possible; like using the lotion for their bodies and have that cover up, no need to get some.

Manson and Lizzie were staring at each other while their parents looked like two mammals grooming their cubs.

Claire's eyes followed her son's and she frown noticing how Owen was struggling to get all that lotion off Lizzie's dress. He had rubbed it all over thinking that would make it vanish, have the same effect it did on skin. Of course that backfired, and now her dress had a lot of white stains and looked worse than before.

"Maybe you should get her a new shirt?" She suggested after rolling her eyes. "I doubt you brought an extra one with you, or did you?" Her tone of voice was judging him, and he noticed. He might be a clueless single dad, but he could tell when a woman had changed her attitude towards him.

Owen stood up and did as suggested, "I bet you weren't prepared the first time this happened to you." He mumbled on his way back to the shop.

"What size are you getting her?" Claire called out, looking straight not making eye contact.

Owen walked back and checked the tag on the back of Lizzie's dress. He looked back to where Claire and Mason were sitting and went get that top.

Claire made sure to keep an eye on the blonde girl who was left alone by the bench. She had walked over towards them and was playing under the bench with Manson while her dad came back.

Owen sat on the bench next to Claire, facing the opposite side, not really in the mood to see her face — even if he found her freckles hypnotizing. "Come here kiddo." He asked his daughter to stand in front of him.

Claire looked over her shoulder, "You are really going to pull that dress off her in here?" She tilted her head.

"You did it with your kid." Owen pointed out.

"I'll take her to change. They need a potty break anyways." She rolled her eyes and stood up. "We'll be right back." She grabbed her son's backpack and with each kid on each hand headed over to the restrooms near by. Lizzie checking the cute monkey design on her new shirt in her hands.

* * *

After their potty break and washing their hands, Claire had both Mason and Lizzie sitting on the sink counter one on each of her sides. It was the only way to keep them from wondering around and getting in trouble.

The redhead changed the girl into her new shirt and put her dress away into the plastic bag with Manson's dirty shirt. She took a brush out of the backpack and started to fix her hair and cleaned it up the best she could.

"You have such pretty hair." The blonde girl reached out to play with Claire's red hair, "I want mine to be your color when I grow up." She smiled.

Claire chuckled back, and worked on setting Lizzie's long hair up in a bun.

"Are all step mothers mean?" She wondered, her fingers now curious on Claire's earrings.

"No, I'm sure there are really cool ones out there." She smiled, "why? Is your daddy's girlfriend mean?" She casually asked.

"He doesn't have a girlfriend." She shook her head, "but maybe you could be his girlfriend and then you could be my step mommy."

"And he would be my step daddy!" Mason joined the conversation.

"I already have a step daddy." Lizzie shared.

Claire just remained quiet while fixing the backpack so they could meet Owen outside. She was hoping they would get distracted with some other subject and leave her out of this one.

"Mommy, if you became Lizzie's step mommy and her dad became my step daddy; what would we become?" They knew two kids from the same parents were brothers or sisters but their knowledge didn't go far enough to draw their conclusion.

"Step brother and sister." She would soon regret answering that.

"COOL!" Both kids exclaimed simultaneously.

"But that's not happening, now lets go back outside and find something to eat," She brought each kid back down before they ran outside over to where Owen was waiting.

Claire followed and watched both kids interrupting what looked like Owen flirting with two young girls who had just finished buying some souvenirs. They were giggling while they watched him play around with both kids. They were laughing while he swung them around in the air, both kids taking turns.

Claire rolled her eyes and walked over, at the sight of the redhead both girls walked away.

"Sorry I ruined your fun." She offered dryly, it was evident in her voice how annoyed she was, perhaps even a little jealous.

"It's fine, as long as they think I'm with you." He teased while he grabbed Manson from his ankles and kept him upside down for a few seconds before carefully putting him back down. "Maybe next time we can pretend a little."

* * *

The four of them had found a little snack kiosk to have some breakfast at. The kids were at their table while both parents order their food. Claire had gotten Manson a turkey sandwich and some orange juice while she had gotten a toasted bagel with cream and cheese and black coffee.

Owen had insisted to take care of her order, it was the least he could do after she had helped him clean Lizzie up.

"I'll have a cheese burger with extra fries and a strawberry smoothie" He ordered but his expression changed the moment he noticed Claire was giving him that disappointing look again. "Hold that order please. I'm waiting to hear what is it that I'm doing wrong now." He waited for the redhead to speak.

"She's allergic to strawberry." She informed him, "but it's very typical from an ex-husband to be unaware of his own daughter's allergies, so no biggie." She shrugged condescendingly. In her eyes, there was no excuse for him to not be aware of this.

"Make that a mango smoothie please." Owen changed his order before his attention went back to Claire, "What happened to me wanting to get to know my daughter being sexy?" He wondered. He was frustrated, he went from making a thousand points with her to having the worst of shots.

"You mean being stuck with her while Brenda is on vacation? Because those are very different things." She shrugged, hoping they would hurry up with their order.

"So you went from flirting with me to being shabby because I'm your bffs ex?" He chuckled, "You women are fucked up."

"Excuse me? I was never flirting." Claire insisted, completely denying her previous behavior towards him.

"You were so ready to jump into bed with me back there." He pointed at the store.

"Wow...we think way too much of ourselves, don't we?"

"That's thirty-four and seventy-five cents." The guy taking their order interrupted them.

Owen pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and taking his credit card out he handed it over.

Claire was quiet, making sure her order was complete. "And she's not my 'bff'." Claire shrugged. They were just two single mothers backing each other up when needed, seeing how their kids were best friends. But yes, they sometimes sat down and talked about their ex-husbands whose similarities were uncanny in many things which made them bond and understand each other.

Owen parted his lips to keep voicing his opinion, but was interrupted. "I'm sorry, sir." He was handed his credit card back. "It got declined." The young man murmured, covering the side of his mouth so Claire wouldn't listen. He was a guy who knew how trying to impress a woman was a tough game.

Owen opened his wallet, he only had four dollars in cash. "Um, can I lend thirty dollars and —" he looked over at the kiosk guy.

"Seventy-five cents."

Claire sighed and went looking for her own credit card.

"I'm just —"

"Unemployed, I know." She looked up and smiled. "My bad, in 'sabbatical'." She offered some air quotes for that before pulling her credit card out to take care of the bill.

At their table, Claire handed her kid his turkey sandwich and poked his orange juice box opened with the straw. She had taken the liberty to cut the cheeseburger in half before Lizzie could try eat it and have it end on her new shirt.

It was a big cheeseburger with a large side of fries so Owen grabbed the other half and starting eating too.

Claire brought her eyes up to catch him cleaning some mayonnaise off the corner of Lizzie's lip. She frowned to herself before looking down to her bagel and bringing it up to her lips.

"So would you guys want to do the whole zoo instead of just the petting zoo?" Owen suggested, his eyes on the redhead who until now looked up, making eye contact with him.

"Yes!" The two kids agreed. "The petting zoo is for babies." Lizzie added.

"Your petty teacher left you behind, we won't miss her one bit anyways." Owen noticed their class was probably at the Tisch Children's Zoo by then.

"What's petty?" Manson asked while nibbling on his sandwich.

Claire kept her eyes on Owen's and tilted her head, why did he think this was a good idea was beyond her.


	4. Chapter 4

Five minutes into the zoo, Claire and Owen seemed to have kept very present in their minds that both their kids were not to be let run about without adult supervision. Or did they?

From a third person perspective, they looked like the perfect little family. The four of them were walking one next to the other, holding hands. Both parents were at the ends, Owen holding Lizzie's hand and Claire holding Manson's, both kids holding hands as well; their steps unconsciously synchronized.

Both adults had come to the unspoken agreement to try be civil, at least around the children. However, it did bother Owen how the redhead's attitude towards him had drastically shifted, and he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to ask about it. But first, he thought he would have to make a solid impression of his own. He had no idea what his ex had told her, and even if whatever she had said was probably true, for some reason he didn't want Claire to think of him that way, see him through the ex's eyes.

He had casually noticed her looking his way from time to time, but only because he couldn't stop himself from turning her way and admire her. You could say they both were distracted trying to avoid getting caught, engaging in a subconscious flirting game. At some point, he even made her laugh and he could swear she even blushed.

"Ewww." Manson complained, watching Lizzie picking up her nose and cleaning the dry little booger she had pulled out on his arm.

She laughed, "Tagged. You are it."

The boy mirrored her action and picked his nose, too. The piece of dried booger he had taken out of his nose was bigger than hers.

He was ready to wipe it off on her new shirt, but Claire was already reaching down with a tissue and cleaning it up before he could do anything with it.

"Please don't eat that." She watched him with disgust. She hated it when he ate his boogers. Why did kids do that? She was sure they didn't even taste good. "How can you eat that but complain your veggies are gross?" She shook her head.

Owen quietly watched her deal with this, he was pressing his lips tight together trying not to laugh.

"No. We are playing tag." Manson explained to his mom.

Claire made him blow his nose into the tissue before she dropped it into a near by trashcan, "Okay, but please...please no monkey business." She begged before letting go of his hand.

Owen did the same with Lizzie and both adults watched the kids run into the playground.

"Should we close the space?" Owen reached out offering his hand, a playful grin on his lips.

The redhead rubbed the back of her neck and watched him from the corner of her eyes, not saying a word. She offered a side smirk that was meant as a tease before she walked away from him.

Owen didn't need much, that for him was enough of a signal that it was okay to try woo her, and very much encouraged. He was not going to lie to himself, the little smirk she offered back was enough to send him through the roof; what a woman that one was.

He grinned and let his eyes fall into that curvy behind of hers watching her walk over to the snack kart near by. He found an empty bench near the kids whom were laughing and running around.

She got a couple of water bottles and headed back. She sat on the bench next to him and opened one of the waters so she could take a sip.

Owen smiled watching her drink.

"What? You've never seen a woman drink water before?" She nibbled on her lower lip, casually crossing her leg. She loved the way his eyes felt on her.

He chuckled, "I know what you are doing. You are fishing for some corny compliment and I'm not falling for this." He shook his finger at her.

Claire offered him the bottle so he could also have a sip, "Okay." She said with indifference and a shrug as she looked away.

"You want it, you earn it." He took a sip from the bottle and handed it back to her.

"I don't want it." She rolled her eyes. "But~you should let your big mouth tell your eyes not to give you away." She called him out for staring.

"You totally want this." He insisted with a grin.

Half the kids in the playground had now joined Manson and Lizzie in their little tag game. Neither parent noticing those kids kept picking up their noses and cleaning themselves on the other kids' arms as they all ran and screamed. Maybe because it was such a usual thing for children to do; just stand there and dig their noses for those big green boogers.

As the minutes went by, every kid had gone back to their parents and left to enjoy the zoo. Short after, Claire and Owen were met by two sweaty children.

Claire was ready with her package of wipes so she could clean her son. If there was something she couldn't stand, was see him all sweaty. "Manson what's this?" She gently pulled his arm up, noticing the green pasty stuff all over it.

The brunette kid turned to look at his best friend and both kids laughed. It was that one laugh Claire was way too familiar with, the one they did when they were hiding something or had a secret they had promised to keep.

"I think they are boogers." Owen laughed examining Lizzie's arm. She had them too.

"Don't laugh! It's gross." Claire was not amused.

"They are kids! It's what they do." He shrugged, "besides, don't act like grown-ups don't like eating other kind of stuff." He pursed his lips and looked down to her crutch.

"Don't look at me like that!" She hit his shoulder with the wipes package but couldn't help smile.

"What kind of stuff, daddy?" A very curious seven-year-old asked.

"Juices." He answered, his eyes still on Claire whose eyes he thought would jump off her face once she heard him answer that question. He couldn't help laugh, specially because both kids just shrugged the answer off.

The redhead turned to face him and shook her head offering him some wipes so he could also clean his daughter.

* * *

"How come Alex isn't the at the front like in the movie?" Manson asked a little disappointed after finding out sea lions were at the center of the zoo. He was excited to see him perform just like in the Madagascar movie.

"Because women rule the earth now." Lizzie explained.

"No they don't!"

"Yes we do!"

"No they don't!"

"Yes we do!"

"Okay, okay, knock it off." Claire pulled Manson to her other side and held Lizzie's hand. Both kids poked their tongues out at each other and kept walking.

"No they don't." Owen casually murmured after a few seconds of silence, which earned him a death glare from Claire.

"Yes we do." Claire offered a few seconds later.

"Mommy, can we get an ice-cream? Please." Manson grinned up after seeing the small kiosk selling them.

"Yes! Daddy, can we please?" Lizzie bounced lightly.

"Wanna go get them?" Claire tilted her head and took her wallet out of her purse so she could give him some money for Manson's.

"Um..." Owen rubbed the back of his neck. Had she forgotten he only had four dollars in his pocket?

"Why don't you go pick which one you'd like?" She let the kids run over to the kiosk while she took a twenty dollar bill out and put her wallet back into her purse.

"Yay!" The kids ran off.

Once they were alone, she handed him the money. The redhead had kept in mind Owen was broke, but she wasn't the evil kind to want humiliate him in front of his daughter. As a matter of fact, the way he had told her how he wanted to impress the kid had kept her distracted from fully hating on him. "You can pay me later." She shook her head with a soft smile.

He nodded and smiled back, and tenderly reached out, letting his fingers hold on hers for a second.

"You know, you really need to get a job if you want to impress her. She's a smart kid." The redhead tilted her chin up before pulling her fingers away from his.

So close, Owen shook his head taking the insult. After releasing a sigh, he walked over to the kids.

Both kids had gotten one of those ice-cream on a stick covered in chocolate. The were sitting on the floor in front of the glass at the white-headed capuchin's enclosure. They were laughing watching the monkey trying to reach over and scratching the glass with his paw.

Claire and Owen were sitting on a beach right behind the kids. They were sharing a bag of roasted peanuts and seeds that they had gotten from one of the vendors walking by.

Claire pinched into the bag for some and got a raisin out of it. She wrinkled her nose and in her effort to get rid of it without looking like a picky eater, she leaned close and tried feed it to Owen.

"Hell nah." He turned his head. "As sexy as it would be for you to feed me..." He grinned, making Claire roll her eyes. "I'm not eating something that looks like hamster poop." He shook his head.

"Hamster poop? Really? What are you eight?" She still couldn't help laugh, which she hated because she knew she was just enabling him.

He smiled and shrugged, "you find it sexy so~" He teased her.

"Oh yeah, I forgot." She rolled her eyes once more, "we stepped into a dimension where I can't resist you." She looked away just to find both kids rubbing their face against the glass after using their ice-cream as some sort of facial paint.

The monkeys on the other end of the glass mirroring their moves. "Kids, no!" She rushed over and pulled Manson up from his waist away from the glass.

Owen had done the same and carried his daughter back to the bench.

"We are capuchin monkeys!" Manson grinned up to his mom, vanilla ice-cream dripping down his face.

* * *

Lizzie and Manson were distracted with the giraffes. They were giggling while they let them lick their face, their rough sticky tongues felt funny on their cheeks.

The kids' parents had done their best to clean every inch of their face, but it seemed the long neck animales could still feel the sweet of the vanilla lingering on them.

The redhead handed both kids some giraffe food so they could feed them. They eagerly climbed the log railing to get closer and be able to pet them.

"So back to feeding each other." Owen casually ran his arm against the back of their bench, trapping her around it.

"When were we at it in the first place?" She curved an eyebrow.

"C'mon, it'd be cute!" He begged, toying with her. "Everybody is doing it! Kids are feeding the giraffes, those fools who are in desperate need of a room are doing it too!" He pointed over at a couple of teenagers close by who were feeding each other cotton candy by pressing the piece with their lips and closing the space between them for a kiss while eating it.

"No."

Owen shook his head disappointed before he caught his daughter imitating the teen couple.

"Whoooa." He ran to stop her.

Manson was on the floor, keeping her in place, helping with her balance, while she had climbed high on the railing. She had held a piece of lettuce between her lips and was letting the giraffe suck it out of her mouth, basically making out with her.

Claire was laughing from her spot.

"What are you doing?" Owen also couldn't help but chuckle, carrying her down before the two kids and him met the redhead back at the bench.

"They are doing it, it looked like fun." Lizzie explained with a light frown, pointing out at the couple with the cotton candy.

"Oh sweetie." Claire shook her head, "that's only okay when two adults do it." She explained.

"You always keep the most fun stuff for adults only." Manson had noticed. Claire tended to give that explanation a lot! Like those balloons for adults they had on the bus.

"And she doesn't even want to!" Owen shook his head, "That could be your mom and I doing it, but she is playing."

The redhead looked over and shook her head, her lips pursed.

As they kept walking, they found the gorrillas section packed with teenagers. They were all whistling and shouting all sorts of cheers, at least fifteen cellphones recording whatever there was behind that glass.

"Come on! Let's go see what is it!" Lizzie exclaimed and both kids ran off. They made it through the crowd, and pressed their bodies against the glass. They had front row seats to the action, their height didn't bother the teens so they let them be.

"Is it bad that I'm really curious to see what's happening there?" Claire bit on her lower lip. Whatever it was, it truly had those teens hyped up.

Owen shrugged and walked with her over.

"sorry our kids are there." She used as an excuse to make their way to the front.

"Don't worry, it's grade A education your kids are getting here." One of the teenagers laughed before letting the redhead step to the front.

Two gorillas had decided to display their affection right in front of the glass for everyone to see. The male one lying on his back on the grass while the female was over on top of him, facing the glass, her back side over the male's face while he licked her.

Claire gasped and immediately covered Manson's eyes, but couldn't contain her cheeks from turning red at the explicit picture in front of them.

"That could be your mom and my dad doing it, but she is playing." Lizzie recited Owen's previous line.


	5. Chapter 5

Lizzie and Manson were both quietly sitting on a bench. Both kids were pouting and feeling the heavy disappointing look Claire was offering. This was the first time all day when they were quiet and sitting still. The redhead loved her kid to death, but she seriously wondered sometimes what had she done wrong to deserve his mischievous behavior. Lizzie was equally terrible, but Claire had to deal with her son first. It wouldn't be fair to blame all this behavior on a bad influence either; the redhead knew her son was sometimes the mastermind behind the things they came up with.

Claire had already lectured them about what they had done and how wrong it was. She was never too harsh on Manson and she knew Brenda was never too harsh on Lizzie, either. They would ground them from time to time but never in public where they would be humiliated. The two kids did look like they had gotten busted committing a felony and were about to be sent to jail.

The redhead handed the kids some crayons and a piece of paper so they could write an apology letter. They knew that the more sincere they were about their fouls, the more it would help them towards the consequences.

Both kids were now sitting on the floor, using the bench as a table so they could start their letter. They always did this together, both moms never required for each kid to write their own.

It took them a minute to hand Claire the piece of paper back. They were still upset they had been scolded and went back to sitting on the bench with their arms crossed against their chests.

'Sorry because of nothing.' That's what the paper read in brown crayon. It was Lizzie's handwriting and definitely her attitude displayed across that paper.

Claire was disappointed. She had already heard the excuse that they had found the damage already done and they were just playing around.

"We are not apologizing for something we didn't do." Manson said firmly.

"I'm not saying anything without a lawyer present." Lizzie looked away. She was always repeating things she heard here and there.

"What do you need a lawyer for? I thought you were innocent." Claire raised her eyebrow.

"To prove we are not guilty." She nodded once.

"I really want to believe you." Claire frowned. The kids were always getting in trouble and doing all sorts of things, but this was the first time they had taken it too far.

Both kids shrugged.

Owen was across from them, sitting on the floor, making sure he left the glass they had found scratched as good as new. The lion behind it, circled around, never taking his sight off Owen, and occasionally scratching the other end of the glass with his paw. He would roar at Owen as if asking him to back off.

The man was brushing each scratch with Claire's clear nail polish. They were lucky the damage wasn't too deep or big, but just a few scratches close to the low corner of the glass. He knew a couple of tricks to leave it as good as new before any staff member would see them and get them in trouble.

People who passed by wouldn't fail to bring their eyes down to the man cleaning the glass, but neither did they make a big deal out of it.

After working his magic for about fifteen minutes, Owen proudly stood up and walked back to their bench. He smiled over towards Claire and handed her polish back.

She smiled lightly and nodded her head, "thank you."

"Both our kids did this, so I'm just saving both of our butts." He shrugged.

"We didn't do anything!" Lizzie insisted. "Daddy, you believe us, don't you?" The blonde girl frowned.

Claire's eyes traveled from the kids to Owen and she tilted her head, expecting him to answer that question and awaiting for the single father to support her in this.

This whole situation had happened not even half an hour ago. Claire and Owen had been unconsciously pulled out of the present and the presence of their kids while innocent flirting with each other. It seemed his charm was not failing on him and the redhead was slowly setting her mind back to the start, back to when she found him attractive and how his willingness to spend time with Lizzie was something she found appealing.

She was laughing at something he had said, her hand casually holding from his firm bicep. Owen even took advantage of this moment and brush a light strand of hair off her face, offering a smirk — the most charming one Claire had ever seen.

The kids had been distracted with the lions, they settled on sitting by the corner where it was easier to fool the feline around when following their movements.

It was Manson's turn to carry his backpack around and so both kids didn't lose anytime on turning it upside down and take everything out of it. They had noticed how the lion on the other end of the glass reacted more violently to the reflection of certain things and this made them laugh.

It was the high screech sound of Mason's car toy against the glass what made Claire and Owen bring their attention back to their kids. This is where they eyed the scratches and immediately took action.

Owen could feel both staring at him, their eyes heavy on him. This was kind of a good opportunity to show Claire that he was a man who took partnering seriously. After all, he had been brushing her off all morning insisting that kids would be kids. On the other hand, he had also been trying to impress Lizzie and win her trust and affection. He felt trapped and it was over the silliest of things. The glass was fixed and no one had even cared, what did it matter if the kids had done it or not? It was a thing of the past.

"Owen, c'mon..." Claire mumbled while moving her eyes back and forth between him and the kids.

When it came to disciplinary actions, it was very important to have both parents on the same page, so kids wouldn't be trying to fool them around and pin them against each other.

He then felt her hand on the small of his back, she was definitely not playing fair at all. "I'm sorry hun, but you are grounded." He nodded once.

"Mom would have believed me!" Lizzie was upset and hurt that he didn't.

Owen immediately turned his attention back to Claire, she shook her head assuring him that Brenda wouldn't have fallen for that one and regardless of the parent she would have still gotten in trouble.

He then tilted his head, why was Claire still looking at him that way? As if she was expecting him to do something about the matter? Hadn't he just grounded his kid, wasn't that enough?

"Aren't you going to say something?" She wondered with a soft smile. It was also very important to explain why the grounding, what action was the one that had got them in trouble.

"Lizard...what you guys did there was very wrong." He explained but his hazel eyes were soon on the redhead, waiting for approval of sorts.

She nodded encouraging him to go on.

"It's not cool to go about destroying public property." He kneeled down to be at the girl's height. The blonde girl looking down and sniffing. "So we will finish the zoo, but no more fun stuff for the day, because you are grounded." He explained, brushing his finger down her chin and tilting her head up a little, "understood?" He asked softly.

"This is so unfair." She insisted and hopped off the bench so they could continue with their tour around the zoo.

Both kids started to walk ahead of their parents. They held hands and kept their head down, feeling completely defeated.

"That's actually pretty good." Claire smiled over.

Owen smiled back, proud of himself. He reached out for her hand and watched her tilt her head. Claire bit on her lower lip wondering what he was doing. "So, before we were interrupted, I believe this was around here." He playfully pointed out, taking her arm to wrap around his.

Claire laughed and nodded, "I believe it was." She narrowed her eyes before nibbling on her lips and gently held tight from his bicep.

Owen happily resumed their walking following the two pouting kids.

A few steps further, they reached where the road guided to different paths, "so where do you want to go next?" Claire wondered.

But the kids didn't answer. She felt bad that the little scolding and grounding had ruined their mood, but it had been necessary. They were slightly overdue after playing with the merchandise and getting some of the glasses dirty along the way, not to mention the other little things they had done here and there.

"Lets see here..." Owen decided to read the little signs to see which path to take, "We have; animals that will scare your kids," he started.

Claire laughed lightly but the kids were not amused, "your dad forgot how to read..." Manson pointed out, he was old enough to be about to read and know that's not what it said there.

"And how to be cool." Lizzie added.

"Go on," Claire was finding it amusing.

Owen could live with that, at least he was stealing the redhead's attention, "animals that sleep all the time," he continued.

The kids said nothing.

"Tough crowd." He mumbled, "animals that scratch themselves in embarrassing places."

Claire tried to silent her chuckles by pressing her lips against his shoulder, Manson giggled a little just to have Lizzie shush him.

"We are grounded... we can't have fun, remember?" She pointed out.

Owen was surprised at how passive aggressive his daughter could be, "she got that from her mother." He smiled at the redhead who didn't say anything, how could she really? When sometimes she would be the same.

"And last but not least, animals whose odor's make you gag." He said about the last arrow.

Claire made a face and shook her head, "so which of the first three do you guys want to go to?" She offered, the odor one was disqualified. She could do without that one just fine.

Both kids shrugged.

"Now c'mon, that pout is getting old." He pulled his daughter up from her waist and sat her on his shoulders.

Lizzie tried really hard not to laughed but she couldn't help giggle. "Lets go to the sleepy ones." She suggested.

"We'll take turns so Manson can ride on my shoulders too, okay?" Owen suggested so the little boy wouldn't feel left out.

Lizzie was okay with that and Claire looked up and offering a smile, touched that he was thinking about her kid too.

Owen didn't hesitate and smile back, gently caressing her shoulder in an unspoken reassuring gesture that he got her back, just like she had gotten his with the ice-cream and many other things through out the day so far.

"Can Claire ride on your back too!?" Lizzie wondered with excitement.

"You know what, that's a brilliant idea." Owen agreed.

"No." The redhead shook her head, "you are not carrying me in your shoulders... ever. That's just not happening." She shook her head, her cheeks blushing bright red and a smile on her lips as she kept shaking her head.

"We'll see about that." He smirked, his hands gently grabbing Lizzie's legs, keeping her balance and straight on his shoulders.

The redhead looked up and pursed her lips unable to stop them from curving a light smile for him.

Owen chuckled and fixed his eyes on hers for a second. "Hey, buddy? Do you think you can hang from my back?" He motioned so Manson could try ride from there.

The kid ran over and threw himself onto Owen's back holding tight from his shoulders.

"Hold tight!" He adjusted and curved his back forward a little to help him keep both kids steady and in place. "Race you there!" He called out for Claire and started running the best and fastest he could, both kids laughing and screaming.

They left Claire behind feeling completely moved. Manson had never experienced a bond with a male before except from his cousins, but this was not the same.

She walked slowly towards them, the picture of Manson playing with Owen a little painful in a way. How could he be so nice and generous with her kid, while Manson's father never even bothered? Not even for his birthday or Christmas.

If Lizzie's mother were there, Claire would call bullshit on her; their exes weren't not the same, not even one bit.

"Hurry up!" Owen called out for Claire to catch up.

She smiled and hurried her step, "did you see that, Mommy!?" Manson was thrilled.

"I certainly did." She smiled back before sighing and letting her green eyes meet Owen's.

"C'mon, buddy. It's your turn to ride up." He swapped kids and the smile on Manson's face one brighter than any his mother had ever seen.

Claire leaned lightly to the side feeling Owen's arm around her shoulders while the four of them walked through the path, making slow pauses at each cage so the kids could check each and every animal out.

"You were right daddy, they are all asleep." Lizzie sounded a little disappointed.


	6. Chapter 6

It was a little past noon and the kids had been complaining about being hungry for a few minutes now. Both single parents had agreed to take a lunch break, after all it had been a couple of hours since they had their snacks, so it was a good time to have a meal.

They settled in a small dining area on their way to the east side of the zoo. Claire still had very present the kids' class was at the Tisch Children's Zoo across from 65th street, and hopefully, they will make it there in time for the head count and to get on the bus.

"Do you want to stay saving the table while I go get us something to eat?" The redhead couldn't help flirt with Owen, her eyes were playful on his while her fingers gently slid around his wrist. "I would ask if you want to come with me~" She shrugged, biting on her lower lip, "but if we leave them alone...we will come back to find the place on fire."

Owen grinned softly, he could feel her fingers slipping down the inside of his hand while her lips smiled up at him. The way her finger pads brushed the rough texture of his palm was blowing electrifying sparks up his arm.

She had been finding ways to touch him here and there and he didn't miss an opportunity to do the same. They had been flirting nonstop for the past half an hour more or less and Owen was slowly taking on how she was letting her guard down around him.

"You go, we will find a moment to be alone later." He teased her. Why else would she wish he could tag along sans the kids to get some food? He was no fool, and so far... he had noticed that calling her out on her intentions kinda worked on his advantage.

Claire had her back on him, smiling to herself and blushing slightly. She set her bag on the table and only took her wallet with her. "I never said I was looking for some alone time with you~" She murmured, an inch away from him after she had turned around. She slowly let her eyes drop to his lips and back up to his eyes before quietly walking past him.

His eyes followed each of her steps, enjoying himself a little too much, "mom says that flies get in if you keep your mouth open for too long."

"What's the deal with her anyways?" Owen casually asked, sitting across from the kids. "Does she have any special friends?"

"A boyfriend you mean?" Mason slowly reached out for his mom's purse and started to pull it closer to him.

Owen knew enough about the kids by then to let them get anywhere near that purse, so he grabbed the handle and pulled it back away from the kid.

"We are seven, we know what a boyfriend and a girlfriend is." Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"Mom lets us play with her cellphone while we wait for food." The boy frowned watching Owen take the purse away.

Owen looked into the purse, then over to Mason, and then over to Lizzie; both kids nodded their head in reassurance that it was true. He watched them incredulously and shook his head; he was not falling for this one.

"So does she have a boyfriend?" He casually wondered, more interested in that subject than letting them trick him into giving them her cellphone. He was smarter than two seven year olds, or was he?

"Why should we help you out if you don't help us out?" Mason crossed his arms against his chest and tilted his chin up.

"You gotta give to receive." Lizzie mirrored her best friend, and crossed her arms as well.

Owen sighed and set the purse on his lap, he looked into it and rubbed the back of his neck. There was something about going into a woman's purse that just made him uncomfortable. He thought this through for a few seconds, the cellphone was deep in there. He tilted his head around trying to see if he could find it with his eyes but had no luck, "forget it, dude." He shook his head and closed the purse.

"Then, forget mom." Mason shrugged.

Owen gave him a look and brought his eyes back to the purse. He looked away and slowly slid his hand inside. The faces he was making had both kids laughing.

Manson immediately made grabby hands once the cellphone was out of the purse.

Owen figured there wouldn't be any harm on giving it to him since it was locked, "not so fast, buddy." He shook his head, "the info first." He insisted.

"She doesn't have a boyfriend. She doesn't like _boys_." Mason shrugged.

The way that sounded almost made Owen choke. His eyes were wide opened while he watched the kid incredulously. He was positive Claire liked men, the way she teased him and flirted with him made her seem like a woman who knew exactly how he liked it. "What do you mean, buddy?" He cleared his throat.

"She says to stay away from _boys_." Lizzie nodded. That's what her mom and the redhead were always saying; that _boys_ were a waste of time.

"She better be safe than sorry." Mason explained. "Cellphone please." He grinned.

The iPhone started ringing in Owen's hand before he could hand it over to the kid, "Who is Simon!?" He sounded a little too possessive for the nature of his connection to Claire.

"That's mom's—"

"Shhh." Owen pointed his index finger up and without thinking he just slid to answer. "Hello." He tried sound very macho like, but it only made the kids giggle.

"Hello? Who is this?" The Indian accent on the other end sounded puzzled.

Owen scoffed, "This is Owen. Why are you calling my girlfriend!? Simon..."

Both kids' jaws drop to the ground at that lie.

Mr. Masrani immediately got sidetracked and genuinely distracted at the realization that Claire's boyfriend was on the other line. He thought that was great, "She never mentioned she has a boyfriend!"

The excitement coming from the other side of the call threw Owen off guard. He even pulled the iPhone away from his ear and gave it a puzzled look. "Yeah...well...it's sorta new." He explained.

The kids kept gasping while looking at each other. "I told you she wanted to kiss him..." Mason murmured and Lizzie giggled.

Owen's eyes widen up and tuned to look at the kids. He smiled to himself before going back to the call and his mission to scare this Simon with the funny accent off. "You lost your chance, pal. She's mine now." He added.

"I'm not looking to steal her away from you, Owen." The guy laughed, "This is Simon Masrani... her boss." He explained "but I like that you are protective of her."

That was the moment when Owen wanted for the ground to open and swallow him, "wrong number." He mumbled fast and hung up.

The kids were laughing.

"Don't tell your mom about this." He said, dropping the phone into her purse.

"Tell me what?" The redhead was back with a tray of food. She had gotten the kids some chicken fingers and french fries, a burger for Owen, and a salad for herself. She set it on the table and put the kids' food close to them, her eyes on her purse which was still on Owen's lap.

"That I almost dropped your bag off the table." He casually mumbled before pulling the chair beside him out so she could sit there.

The redhead fixed her green eyes on Owen's and offered a smile, a short moment that was interrupted by her cellphone ringing once again. She quickly reached out for it and immediately answered reading it was her boss, "the burger is yours." She pointed out.

"Mr. Masraini, hello." She answered before turning around to go looking for a quiet place, "my boyfriend?"

* * *

Half the kids walking down the zoo were happily wearing face paint masks, and of course this made Mason and Lizzie want one. They were walking a few steps ahead of their parents, their eyes not missing one single kid while admiring the cool designs they were wearing.

Claire was holding Owen's bicep while they both followed their kids around, "are you finally going to let me feed you?" Owen asked nudging her softly, bringing her attention to a cotton candy stand.

The redhead smiled and curved an eyebrow. She parted her lips to talk, but her kid interrupted her while pulling from her dress.

"Mom, can I get a Spider-Man face-paint?" He was begging already.

Claire sighed and offered Owen an apologetic frowned before her attention went down to her kid.

"Can I have one too, daddy!?" Lizzie wiggled lightly. "They look so cute!"

Owen noticed how Claire was shaking her head, figuring she was about to tell Mason no. He was trying to impress her so decided to beat her to it and be the bad cop; "Aren't those fun?" He wondered.

"Yesssss!" Both kids agreed.

Claire looked up and tilted her head wondering what was it that he had in mind.

"But you are grounded, we said no fun for the rest of the day, remember?"

Claire parted her lips a little impressed, she smiled and nodded her head.

"This isn't fair! Daddy, can we get grounded tomorrow instead?" She begged.

It was very hard to resist her pouting face and the whimpering sound she was making while begging her father to let her get a face paint, but he had to put his foot down. "No. Next time you are about to get into trouble, think about all the fun stuff you might miss." He shook his head.

Lizzie was done and she reached out for Mason's hand, almost as if tagging him in — it was his turn to try convince his mom.

"Mommy..." He whined. "We ate all our food!" He recalled, they deserved this.

"That's because it was all junk." She rolled her eyes.

Owen slowly rested his hand on the small of her back and quietly observed her deal with her kid this time.

"I promise we won't have fun while wearing the face paint!"

"Damn, he's good." Owen cleared his throat.

"The answer is no."

"C'mon..." Owen bent down and messed with Mason's hair and tickled Lizzie's belly, "I'm sure you guys can figure out a way to make your own Spider-Man." He winked, "after all... imagination has no limits." He added, raising his hands up for the kids to high five him.

Both kids were pouting and looking down when they offered a nod and high fived his hands before they ran off to check some of the animals near by.

Owen's eyes fell back on Claire who had the brightest of smiles on her face. She nibbled on her lower lip and slowly took hold of his bicep again.

"What?" He smiled playfully before licking his lips.

"You...me, cotton candy." She grinned playfully.

"Yes!" Owen playfully fist bumped. He started to head over to the stand but turned back around on his heel after two steps.

Claire brought some change out of her wallet and gently placed it in his hand before closing his fist and keeping her hand on top of his, "I'll be near the kids." She pursed her lips.

Owen didn't lose another second before he trotted over to the cotton candy stand. He got half pink and half blue since he had forgotten to ask her what kind did she like.

The redhead made sure the kids were on their best behavior, and so far they were. They were helping these other kids feed some ducks. She looked up and smiled once Owen was back.

She was suddenly nervous and even if she was trying to cover it up, her cheeks were pink and giving her away. Owen sat on the bench next to her and untied the bag of cotton candy he had gotten.

"Blue or pink?" He asked before pinching her a bite.

"Blue." She slid closer, letting her knee rub his. She gently rested her hand on his lap and leaned closer.

He lightly brought the piece of cotton candy to her lips and set his eyes on them watching her take it and nibble on the bite.

Claire let her green eyes fall on his hazel ones and reaching out, she pinched a piece of pink cotton candy out of the bag. She brought it over to his lips and giggled when he playfully trapped her finger between his teeth.

"So my boyfriend, huh?" Claire decided to mess with him.

"Hmmm?" He looked away, "I'm not familiar with that term."

"My boss instructed me to never let you go." She pursed her lips.

He smirked, "are you going to?"

"I'm still deciding." She chuckled.

"I think you should do as told." Owen shrugged.

They started to slowly close the space between them while they kept feeding the cotton candy to each other. "I think..." She started while leaning closer to him, her lips parting while he fed her yet another piece of the candy, "...that you are doing an amazing job with Lizzie." She confessed before feeling his fingers against her lips, she kissed his fingertips softly.

"Are you going to let me kiss you?" He wondered tenderly. It meant a lot that she thought he was doing a good job, but right now he was dying to taste those cotton candy flavored lips.

Claire looked away, a smile on her lips, and a pink blush on her cheeks.

"Hmmm?" He tilted his head, reaching out, and gently resting his fingers on her chin turning her head to face him.

The redhead shook her head slowly and curved an eyebrow, "why are you asking permission?"

Owen chuckled and shrugged, "because I'm an idiot." He toyed before going for it and slowly leaning over.

Claire closed her eyes and gulped lightly, feeling the warmth of his breath just an inch away before their lips were about to brush against each other.

He reached out and let his fingers slid around her neck keeping her head steady before he leaned closer.

"Mommy!" Manson called out excitedly.

A whimper escaped the redhead's lips before opening her eyes and slightly pulling back.

"Yes?" She wondered annoyed that he had ruined this for her.

Both parents turned to look at the kids standing in front of them. A gasp escaped Claire's lips, she immediately covered her mouth with her hands in terror, Owen laughing uncontrollably.

The kids had done as told and used their imagination to come up with a way to get what they wanted. A couple of maintenance guys were painting the railings around the zoo, conveniently they were doing it red and blue. There were many signs asking to be careful with the fresh paint since they didn't want any trouble.

Mason and Lizzie had found some of the paint containers unattended and had teamed up to do the face-paint job their parents had refused to pay for.

So there he was, the boy had blue and red oil-based paint all over his face, displaying something that didn't look like Spider-Man at all; Lizzie was no artist and she had done the best she could.

"I'm Spider-Man!"


	7. Chapter 7

Owen was rolling his eyes while the furious redhead he had in front of him kept yelling at him and kept using foul language to have her point clarified. Her words weren't really offensive to him; however since she was comparing him to her ex-husband, he was positive she meant every single word as an insult — and the worst kind at that.

He had been doing so well, he had even almost kissed her at some point. How did things get so fucked up? Owen was in a position where he wouldn't take fault, he had done nothing wrong. He blinked a few times, that woman really had a lot bottled up, it was a shame he had stopped paying attention to what she was saying a few minutes back.

Any other man would have been thankful for the rant this woman was releasing upon him, it would just save him a lot of time to realize she was somewhat crazy and it would be his cue to wish her a good life and leave it there. However, Owen wasn't really scared of the tantrum. He could even understand where it was coming from, and he was taking it as a challenge. He wanted to prove to her he was someone she could confide in, even after Claire had her mind set on the idea that he had lost her kid.

Everything started after Claire had immediately cleaned Mason's face. It took them a couple of baby oil bottles and almost an entire roll of paper to take all the paint off. Mason was mad, they had said for the kids to use their imagination if they wanted a Spider-Man face-paint, and now he was being punished for doing as told.

This time around he wasn't pretending to be upset, he was mad about everything. He wouldn't even talk to Lizzie at this point. He was Claire's son after all, and he could be stubborn and shut down when he wanted to.

Claire was the type of mom who wouldn't pay attention to this behavior. She would just let him be, if he didn't want to talk... then she wouldn't push it. Lizzie knew better too, she knew her best friend needed some time to calm down and so she was enjoying the rest of the zoo on her own. On the other hand, Owen was trying to steal a smile or a laugh from the kid, sometimes trying too hard.

"Is this how it's going to be?" Owen rubbed the back of his neck.

"About what?" The redhead was holding hands with him, her free hand reaching out and brushing his sideburns while her eyes danced looking down his lips. She was still in the mood to kiss him, finding it impossible to stop the flirting at this point. They both knew they just needed to find the perfect timing and it would happen, and once it did, it would be perfect.

"About us...when you get mad at me." He smirked, his hand quick to wrap around her waist and pull her closer to him. "You owe me a kiss." He reminded her, in case she had forgotten.

Claire grinned lightly when he referred to them as 'us', hinting to a possible future, one that she would not object to, "Guilty, he got that from me." She nodded her head. She was imposible to deal with when upset, and the only reason why she was admitting to this was because he was flirting and at that moment he would probably find it cute. When it came to acknowledging the other part of his statement, the redhead blushed and nibbled on her lips. "Then kiss me~" A quick glance to make sure the kids were still around was enough for her, her arms now wrapped around his neck.

Owen knew she was desperate for that kiss, and so he didn't hide that he reciprocated the urge. He chuckled mischievously and resting both hands on her waist, he pulled her closer.

"Hold on, that's work." She had to pull back when their lips were about to brush. Her iPhone in her purse made him groan and complain, "Would you keep an eye on him, please? I'll be right back." She tilted her head.

"And once you are back we kiss?" He playfully suggested.

"The second I'm back." Claire promised before taking the call and turning around to go find a quiet place.

Owen was left behind, grinning like an idiot. He found Mason's backpack and went looking for some mints or bubble gum he could use to refresh his breath. He was going to take her word on that and meet her half way. He wasn't even going to wait for her to walk all the way back, the moment he would see her walking over... he was going to kiss her.

Owen squeezed his hand into every single pocket he could but couldn't find what he was looking for, he felt for some change he had left in the front pocket of his jeans and chuckled in victory. "Hey, Mason?" He called out, maybe the kid would want to come with him to the gift shop nearby and get some candy. He was still trying to get him to not be mad at him. Even if he had seen mom being indifferent, he still felt some inner pressure to get the kid to warm up to him; maybe it could give him some extra points.

When he got no response, he looked up. "Ah, Jeez!" He called out in disgust. Lizzie and Mason had been playing around with the pigs. They had been let into their pen and pet the piglet that was just starting to learn to drink water from the trough.

The children had decided to take that literally, and were crawled on the floor licking into the pig's water 'teaching' Harriet the piglet how to drink like a big girl. "Kids, c'mon!" He shook his head in disgust once they had turned over.

"We are teaching her how to drink!" Lizzie explained.

"Come here! Lets get some candy!" Owen took advantage of Claire not being there and made up for the few times he had been bad to them.

Lizzie quickly ran over and smiled at him, but Mason didn't move. He just frowned from his spot and tilted his head.

"Lizard, stay here with the stuff. I'll be right back." He asked his daughter and headed to the pen so he could see if Mason would tag along.

Once in front of the kid, Owen squat down to meet his height. "What is it? You don't like candy?" He was gentle when talking to the kid, hoping he would get some sympathetic vibes across.

The seven-year-old shook his head, a pout poking out his lips while he looked down. "Mom is going to be more upset now." He said, he knew by Owen's reaction earlier that what they were doing with the water was not okay. "Now I'll be grounded for life!" Mason, like any other kid, hated getting grounded, not to mention he was already having a bad day.

"Well... she can't be mad of something she won't know, can she?" Owen offered a side smirk and winked at the boy. He didn't see any reason why he should tell Claire that her kid was drinking water from the pigs, at least not unless he developed some weird disease. "How about we get the candy you like?" The grown man handed him the change for Mason to keep in his front pocket.

The boy nodded his head and reached out for Owen's hand, ready to head out of the pen and go get the candy. "Just don't drink water from anywhere else but the bottle your mom has for you, okay?" He wrinkled his nose at the thought of how slimy and smelly that water probably was.

"Can I go potty first?" Mason wondered, it had been a while since both kids had a restroom break.

"Yeah, lets go get Lizard and take a potty break." He agreed before heading back to where his daughter was. Owen had noticed how every time, Claire would take them inside with her and wait for them to be done and come back out with them. So that's wha he was planning to do.

Lizzie had ran in and found an empty stall so she could go. Claire and her mom were always saying for the kids to use the last one next to the wall since those were usually the ones people used less.

"Why are the toilets hanging from the walls in here?" A very curious seven-year-old boy wondered the moment the three of them had stepped into the men's restroom.

Owen frowned, it was in that moment when he realized how much a male figure was missing in this kid's life; he had never before stepped into a public man's restroom, "they are call urinals." He explained, "they are toilets exclusive for peeing standing up, so you don't splash everywhere and upset mom." He tried to explain.

Mason's green eyes followed one of the men who had stepped inside and watched him use the urinal, "we don't have those at home." He frowned. "But she said I have to wipe if I splash and to always pull the lid back down." He nodded.

"These are not for houses, they are mainly in public restrooms like here or the mall." He shrugged. "You don't have to use it, you can go into a stall like Lizzie." He smiled.

"Would you teach me?" Mason asked shyly, old enough to feel ashamed he didn't know how to use those; it would be embarrassing to say he didn't know how to go potty by himself at his age — which he had learned really early in life, but he figured this was a part he didn't know or even had idea it existed. "But don't tell anyone I don't know how to use it."

"Um...sure." Owen hesitated that, he was after all somewhat a stranger to the kid still, one that was dying to get into the kid's mom's pants, but still. He took Mason's hand and they walked to the end, standing across from the stall Lizzie was using and where the urinal meant for children was at.

Owen guided him step by step, forgetting the kid already knew how to go by himself, but this was the first time Owen was teaching a kid how to go and he didn't know how else to do it. Once the two of them were done and with their jeans zipped back up, Mason stood by the side and let the other kid who was waiting for the urinal to use it. They were about the same age and he already knew what those were and was comfortable using it. He also paid notice that he was in there with his dad and they were joking around while they both went.

Owen looked down at the kid and frowned, he could notice how those green eyes sadden while witnessing the other kid and his dad. He shook his head and sighed, "Lizard!" He called out, why was this kid taking so long? "What are you doing in there that's taking forever?" The grown man completely forgetting for a moment that girls took a little longer to go than boys.

Lizzie didn't answer, she was done by the time he had stopped asking. She flushed the toilet and Owen could hear the lid dropping. The blonde girl walked out of the stall and headed to the sink counter, the children one was perfect for her height. She soaped her hands and washed them carefully before pulling for a paper towel and drying them. Owen was beside her washing his as well. Once both were done, he took her hand and walked outside with her.

Claire was already on her way back, she smiled at them and nibbled on her lower lip. She was ready to plant that long awaited smooch on that handsome man. Once she was in front of them, Owen offered a cheeky grin and with his free hand, he pulled her closer, his lips ready to cash in his raincheck.

"Where's Mason?" The mother tilted her head back.

"He's inside washing his hands." Owen figured after looking around and not seeing him.

"You left my kid inside a public restroom by himself?" She chuckled.

"No..." He scoffed realizing that apparently it wasn't a good thing to do such thing. Owen leaned back, sure he could see the sink counter from his spot, "I can see him from he—-" the grown man stood straight and frowned, Claire was waiting for him to finish that line. "You can see him from there...?" She wondered, almost asking if that's what he was going to say. "No." He confessed.

"No you can't see him from there or no he is not there?" The redhead demanded to know which one was it.

"Be right back." He let go of Lizzie's hand and Claire took it watching Owen go back into the restroom looking for the kid. He could hear that woman screaming her kid's name outside while he went looking stall by stall. Owen was hoping the kid would be somewhere in there, or the only kiss he would be giving Claire would be bye-bye.

After about five minutes and carefully checking each corner of the restroom, Owen came back out looking defeated. He rubbed the back of his neck, Claire was already talking to one of the security guards. After all the times Lizzie had wondered off, it was surprising to see Claire so distressed. Mason never did anything like this, if anything he'd be the one announcing the girl had unconsciously gone off chasing one thing or the other. Dealing with a lost child was an agony and a concern that people couldn't really grasp until standing in the shoes of their parent.

The security guard alerted his team members to keep an eye open for a brunette boy by the name of Mason with green eyes and freckles across his nose of the age of seven. Owen rested his hand on her shoulder, but the redhead immediately brushed him off. She let Lizzie go back to her dad and started to walk away.

"Wait, where are you going?" The man wondered trotting behind her.

"To go find my kid... whom YOU LOST, by the way." She kept storming off, calling out Mason's name while she kept asking people around if they had seen him.

The worst combination of feelings you could mix inside Claire's head was anger and frustration. She was furious that Owen didn't notice at what time Mason had left his side; she had spent all day taking his kid to the restroom and coming back with both of them with out a problem. "Why is it so hard for you assholes to multitask?" She covered her eyes with her hands, the frustration Claire was feeling of not knowing where her son was drowning her; she wanted to scream and cry. "What, does it really take to be able to pop a kid out of your vagina in order to be there present a hundred percent?" She turned around to face him, for some reason she felt the need to tell this to his face.

"You know what, Brenda ended up being right—" She sobbed, "You are just like him!" She shook her head, breathing fast.

Owen frowned, right away knowing she meant her ex-husband.

"You can't even take them to the restroom!" She chuckled while wiping the light tears rolling down her cheek. "What kind of idiot brings a seven year old girl into the men's restroom!? What were you thinking!?" She shook her head, that was beyond the point. "And you know what else I don't understand? Why do you have to wait until the mom demands you spend some time with your kid to show up!" She knew that was her case, if Mason got to see his dad twice a year it was only because she demanded for Josh to pick him up and spend at least an hour of his weekend playing with his son.

Owen kept parting his lips, but he knew there was no space for him to talk. The redhead was getting a rant started and he rather not say a word.

"Where's your interest in them!? Why don't you call or text!? What is it that is more important than your own kid!?" She frowned. "You own a video game console, don't you?"

Owen nodded.

"So if you have time for your stupid video games, why can't you make room for someone who's half YOURS!?" That was one of the things that pissed her off the most; if Josh had time for many things, how come he didn't find time for Mason? She wasn't even asking for much, just enough for the kid to feel like his dad cared. "Or the perception we have is correct, and you simply don't give a fuck!?" The redhead wasn't one to speak such words, specially in a public place and in front of a kid... but she was aggravated and had lost track of what her brain was screaming back to Owen. "How can you not love them...?" She looked down, that was one of the hardest things to say; the realization that Josh simply didn't love their son.

Here is where she lost Owen and he simply stopped paying attention to her. He was a stubborn man, he didn't feel like Mason getting lost was his fault. The kid was standing right there next to him and in the blink of an eye he was gone; this could happen to her too. Besides, her rant didn't even sound like something related to him but she was venting over whatever damage that ex of hers had caused, because he did love his daughter and he was positive he had shown that through out the day, so it wasn't fair that she was yelling at him what she really wanted to yell at the other guy.

"We don't even ask for much, so why is it so hard? I'm fine on my own and I don't even ask for child support. All I want is for you to be there for me and for him, specially for h—"

Owen abruptly interrupted her, his large hands cupping her warm cheeks, and without hesitation, he pressed his lips against hers. He kissed her gently, long enough to make her shut up.

The redhead didn't even have time to close her eyes or kiss him back, but she did shut up and once he pulled back she frowned.

"I'm nothing like that idiot, and there's nothing in this world that I want more than to prove this to you." He sighed.

Claire nodded softly and looked down, "I just want to find my son." She murmured.

"And I'm going to help you find him." Owen promised.

The redhead smiled faintly and nodded, they split, Claire headed straight asking around if they had seen her son while Owen started looking around that area. He walked into the gift shop close to the restroom and started asking around, completely merged into the task of finding him that he didn't notice his own kid running off until a minute later.

"Ah fuck." He was done with most of today. All he wanted was to get out of there and find a place where the kids could be locked in to stay out of trouble while he made out with that pretty redhead. "LIZZIE!?" He called out, looking around.

"Here, Daddy!" The kid called out from the back of the store. She was laughing while making faces in front of the beverage cooler holding sodas, ice cream, and other products.

"What are you doing?" Owen found her and rolled his eyes once he noticed she was exchanging funny faces with Mason whom somehow had locked himself inside the cooler. Owen pulled the door open and helped the kid out, "you know you could have frozen to death, but we are not telling your mom that." He shook his head.

"C'mon, lets go find your mom." Owen held both kids in each hand and walked out of the store. "Do you know her cell number?" He asked the kid. It would be easier to call her so she could come back and meet them, than go wondering around trying to find her.

Mason nodded and taking Owen's cellphone he stared at the keypad for a few seconds. He started dialing while singing a song and once he had all digits punched, he pressed the green phone to call.

"Mommy?" He sniffed once he heard Claire's voice on the other end.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hello there! I hope you are enjoying this story so far.

If you haven't yet, I want to invite you to check my Halloween Special for this story called 'Double Double Toil and Trouble' The first part is up and I'm going to post the second one tomorrow! I would really love to hear your thoughts on it since based on the reaction it gets, I would determine if I should venture into writing a sequel for this story. So please, let me know what you guys think!


	8. Chapter 8

After reuniting with Claire, Owen had let Mason keep his cellphone to play with it. Unlike the redhead's, this one had some cool games. The kids had spent at least half an hour playing on it, taking turn with Lizzie. The kids and their parents were on a bench already in the petting zoo end of the trip, it hadn't been a surprise for Claire that after losing her kid (and looking around for him) they had ended up missing the bus.

Both adults were now trying to figure out an strategy to head home on their own. The redhead had to go back to work, her boss was expecting her for her presentation later that afternoon and on his end, Owen had to go pick his bike.

"We all take a cab to school so I can fetch my bike—"

"You can't ride both kids on that." Claire shook her head.

"You take them home and I meet you there?" He suggested.

"I have to be back to work in an hour." She couldn't afford to do that long trip.

"You leave to work, I take them home and then go —"

"And who's going to keep an eye on them while you go get your bike?" Claire wondered.

Owen didn't have any more ideas, and just slid his hands over his face, this was worse than that stupid riddle about a fox, a rabbit, and some lettuce. On her end, Claire was frustrated and kept checking the time on her wristwatch. This promotion was something she couldn't afford miss, and she was starting to feel the time they were wasting heavy on her. "What?" She narrowed her eyes, catching Owen staring at her and smiling like a fool to himself.

"You look so beautiful when you are upset." He grinned. The redhead smiling back and rolling her eyes. Claire rubbed the back of her neck and tried to concentrate.

"Daddy, I'm hungry." Lizzie pouted, tugging from his shirt. "Mommy, I'm hungry too." Mason added.

The redhead pulled her wallet out and handed Owen a ten bill, "Can you go get them some pizza? Maybe a slice each and I don't know, you can make that three and we share?" She flirted.

"One with everything?" He kept her hand on his for a second upon taking the money.

Claire nodded, "that's fine, babe." She widen her eyes realizing how she had called him and nibbled on her lower lip trying to keep her cheeks from blushing, "—-um, and maybe they can cut you his in squares?" She mumbled wishing she could hide her face.

"You got it, babe~" He offered a cheeky smile, their eyes flirting before he finally let go of her hand and headed to the small pizza kart a few yards away from them.

The redhead stood behind, taking care of the kids who had gone back to playing with the cellphone. She tried to keep thinking on a way to get the kids out of the zoo, over to the house, and be able to get Owen's bike also. "Mommy..." Mason's voice pulled her out of her intense thinking.

"Hmm?"

"There's an Annababe who keeps calling Owen." The kids kept hanging up on her annoyed she was interrupting their game, however they knew that insisting calling meant it was probably an emergency.

"Annabelle?" She corrected the kid, still not knowing who that was.

"No. Annababe!" Mason insisted and once the phone started going off again, the redhead could read the caller ID for herself.

"Give me that." She took the cellphone away from the kid and without thinking she answered the call, bringing the phone over to her ear.

"Hey sexy~" The female on the other end greeted after the call had been picked up.

Never in her life had Claire felt jealously inching up her body like this. The visual explanation of how she was boiling could be described like those cartoons that when getting upset would start to turn red from toes to head. "Hello AnnaBABE." She dryly greeted back.

"Who is this?" Confusion was heard in the other woman's voice.

" _Sexy's_ wife. Who the hell is this?" Claire knew he had an active sex life, the box of condoms Lizzie had stolen that morning gave that away. But right now, the redhead was not thinking.

The woman on the other end snorted incredulously, Owen had mentioned he was divorced back when they first met a few months ago; she knew he didn't have a wife.

"What? Do you want him to tell you himself? Because he is right here." Claire kept challenging her.

"Yeah, please put him on the phone. Thank you."

A bitch was stubborn and Owen was back just in time to find Claire with his phone against her ear looking like she was ready to kill someone, "what's wrong?" He frowned before letting the kids take each their pizza and the juice he had gotten them.

"Owe, no Cherry Coke?" Lizzie protested.

"AnnaBABE wants to talk to you." The redhead handed the cellphone over and pursed her lips.

"AnnaBabe?" That didn't ring a bell for Owen, because either the contact was that old or he forgot about his flings fast enough — maybe both.

"Yeah. The one that goes, 'Hiiiiii sexyyyyyy'." Claire mocked before rolling her eyes.

Owen offered her a side smirk, he thought the redhead when upset was the cutest thing he had ever seen, but seeing her jealous proved him wrong. He ran his fingers down her cheek and not caring that the woman on the other end had heard all this, he still took the call. "This is Owen." He confirmed, wondering what this Annababe wanted.

His eyes moved to observe Claire while he kept acknowledging the other woman on the line. The redhead looking away and shaking her head, "yes that's Mrs. Grady." He smiled playfully, Claire's eyes moving back to meet his, "I can't even remember when was it that we hooked up, but a lot can happen in a few months, weeks, days... heck amazing things happened to me just throughout today." He explained before hanging up the phone.

"Are you mad?" Claire asked softly, offering a pair of puppy eyes that had Owen melting from inside.

"No~" He shook his head before pressing his lips against her forehead. "We can call it even." He suggested softly, after all he had done the same (and slightly worse) with her boss.

* * *

It wasn't until his shoes were soaking wet when Owen looked up from his cellphone, he was taking these few minutes away from Claire to clear it out, block every number of every woman he had ever slept with and then deleting them from his contacts. Of course leaving Mason unattended for ten minutes meant he was bound to cause a disaster.

Both kids were taken for a potty break before they could finally leave the zoo. They had agreed to go to Claire's work place first and wait for her in the museum, and then go from there. Mason had voiced out his demand on not wanting to use the girls' restroom anymore and asked Owen to take him instead, so Claire took Lizzie and the boys went separate ways.

The seven-year-old had managed to use the urinal with more confidence this second time around, even if it had taken him five minutes to be able to go. Owen stood by the door — to avoid for the kid to leave by himself again, and waited for the boy to wash his hands. Ten minutes later he'd be regretting not keeping his eyes on him.

The boy had taken some of the paper napkins and clog the sinks with it — all of them! He opened the faucets and let the water run until they started to overflow.

"No no no no...!" Owen pushed his cellphone into the back pocket of his jeans and after closing all the faucets and removing the paper napkins, he swept Mason off his feet and fled out of the restroom.

"RUN!" He yelled for Claire and Lizzie whom were already out wondering what was taking the boys so long.

By instinct, the redhead quickly grabbed their things and ran behind them, in heels. Lizzie following the boys also. It was until they made it out of the zoo and onto the main street when they finally stopped to catch some air.

"What's going on?" Claire was breathing fast, feeling her heart beating loud against her chest.

Owen turned to look down and frowned when Mason shook his head, those green eyes begging him not to tell. "Nothing, we just wanted to see if you could beat us ...but we won." Owen shrugged and reached out to take the stuff from Claire and carry them around for her.

"That's not fair! You started running ahead of us!" Lizzie frowned, interrupting Claire's trail of thought before she could say something about that stupid joke.

"Tell you what, we can have a rematch at the museum while we wait for Claire to be out of her meeting, what do you say?" Owen suggested and closed the deal with a high five.

* * *

It was after five when Claire had finally come out of her meeting, thankfully everything had gone perfect and she was very positive that, as always, she had impressed Simon and that promotion was a done deal.

On his end, Owen had finally gotten it easy with the kids. They didn't feel the hours passing since they both loved dinosaurs so much. This was the man's first time at the museum, so he was happily letting the kids share some fun facts about the different species.

"You must be Owen Grady! I'm Simon Masrani." The Indian man greeted him with a handshake.

"Nice meeting you, sir." He nodded his head.

"You should be proud of your girlfriend here," Simon always enjoyed teasing his most valuable team member.

"Oh didn't you hear? She's my wife now." Owen played along, earning a warning look from Claire and a puzzled one from Mr. Masrani.

The elder man fixed his suit and smiled softly, "I hope you and the kids can come for the inauguration." He extended an invitation. "Claire will be in charge of the renovation and further into the administration." He shared the good news with Owen, he hadn't given the redhead any formal offer on the promotion before this announcement.

Owen smiled brightly and nodded watching Claire's face lit up. She sighed in relief, not that there was any doubt in her that she wouldn't get this. "Thank you, Mr. Masrani. You won't be disappointed." She promised.

"I know I won't. See you tomorrow, Claire. It was nice meeting you Owen." The man nodded before he head back inside.

"You did it, beautiful!" He hugged her from her waist, genuinely happy for her. He had learned in the cab on their way over how nervous she was and how important this was for her.

"I couldn't have done it without you." She hugged his neck tightly, "I mean, you coming all the way here to take care of my kid while I worked." She added, "no one has ever done that for me." She pecked his lips softly before she sobbed lightly. "I owe you one, big time."

"You get used to it, okay?" Owen smiled. He had never been there for anybody in his life, at some point he had ruined his marriage because of that. But he wanted to bring the moon down for Claire and do everything he could for her.

The redhead nodded, "I'll take the kids while you go for your bike, meet you back at my place? Maybe you two can stay over for some pizza or something." She blushed.

"That sounds good." Owen nodded and he wrote down her address, her number already on his cell after Mason had called her.

The redhead grabbed one kid on each hand and walked across the street to the subway station while Owen got a cab and asked to be taken back to the school so he could go get his bike.

The subway ride back to her apartment had been a headache. Claire was already exhausted and the kids still had enough energy left to live the whole day all over again. They wouldn't stay on their seat and it took for Claire to sit on the isle of their row to trap them between the window and herself. Mason had been carrying his back pack the whole ride, he had taken his car toys out so Lizzie and he could play on the seats.

At the announcement of their stop, Claire stood up and called the kids to stand up and gather their things, "C'mon lets go!" She rushed them and once by her side, the redhead took their hands.

Her cellphone started to go off and she waited to answer until she had stepped out of the subway with the kids, "Stay here, don't move!" She demanded. "Hello?" She called out, the signal she had was horrible. She used her one hand to cover her other ear, "hello?" She called out again.

She looked around for the kids but they had already wonder around, she hung up and turning around she found them on the train again, Mason had left one of his car toys there. "What are you doing there!? Come here!" She requested but the kid insisted for her to wait, he was looking for one of the few toys his father had ever given him and therefore was one of his favorite.

Claire sighed and was about to step back on the train when the door closed right on her face and took off.

"Fuck—"


	9. Chapter 9

Claire watched the train leaving the station in slow motion, it gave her this desperation and agony that it was taking off slowly, yet it was going too fast for her to be able to react and do something about it.

The kids inside the train didn't even grasp the reality that they had been separated from Claire while looking for the purple 1971 Dodger Challenger Hot Wheels car toy. Joshua, Mason's father, had given it to him for his first birthday. It was the only present he had ever gotten from his father.

For his first four birthdays and Christmases, Claire had taken the liberty to buy two presents — tell him one was from his dad, but as the kid grew older and Josh's absence turned more confusing...the kid stopped believing her. In his heart, the only real present his dad had given him was the one he personally had handed over.

Mason was not going to leave the car behind to be forgotten, he still loved his dad. Lizzie knew how much the toy meant for his best friend and that's why she had run back on the train to help him find it.

Both kids were crawling down the train isle, one on each side, carefully looking for it. They ignored every face the adults they were disturbing made them, "I FOUND IT!" The blonde girl called out, the boy grinned and poked his head out from between two empty seats.

"Yeah!" He stood up and walked to her side to take it. He squeezed it on the pocket of his jeans, feeling about the change Owen had given him. "Lets go!" They ran back to their seat. He grabbed his backpack and it was until they headed for the door when they realized they were moving.

"Where's your mom?" Lizzie wondered, the brunette boy frowned and shrugged.

The first thing a woman did as a mother once the paralytic shock of losing your children had worn off, was to go to the authorities. That's what the redhead was doing while yelling at the person in charge of her subway station.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" She leaned forward, her hands gripping tight from the edge of the desk.

"We have let the other stations know that two kids have been separated from their mother, what else do you want me to do?" The person rolled his eyes. It really sucked when these hysterical parents ruined his donut and coffee break.

"TO . FIND . MY . KIDS ?" The redhead rubbed her forehead trying to calm down. "You know what, fuck you. Thanks for nothing!" She spat and turning on her heel she stormed off.

She needed to think and which was something she was struggling with because by the second those kids were farther away from her and on their own. She took a deep breath and did the responsable thing; she took her cellphone and dialed the other parent.

"Gorgeous, I'm on my way to your place now~" He announced with a smile.

Claire closed her eyes, he was going to hate her forever; specially after that rant she had given him for letting Mason lose at the zoo. The zoo! This didn't even compare, "I—" She sobbed, "I lost the kids on the train." Her voice was trembling. Before today... this was something she would have to face on her own — which no mother or father should have to do.

"I'm on my way, which station?" Owen tried to remain calm, it was evident in her voice that she was about to lose her mind.

Claire had taught Mason many things since a very young age. They were the only person each other had, and so she needed him to be a little more independent than an average kid his age. He had learned her cellphone number in song when he was four and had learned to go potty at two an a half. Claire didn't own a car so they were always on the subway, therefore she had taught him, from the moment he learned how to talk and walk, what to do in case of an emergency.

"Excuse me? We are here without my mom." He had taken Lizzie's hand and started scanning the subway for an adult with a child. The redhead had been very specific about this; he had to look for an adult who had a child, and be very brave and specific about his problem.

"When did you last see your mom?" The woman asked, the kid she had with her was about three years old.

"I don't know. We got off the train but we came back for my toy." He pulled the Hot Wheel out of his pocket and showed it to her.

"Okay, you are staying with me until we find someone who can help, okay?"

Both kids nodded.

Claire was trying to get the donut and coffee guy to give her some update on their kids, but he kept insisting they didn't have any. As long as the kids remained on the train it would be harder to track them.

"Hey...shhhh...it's okay." Owen had finally made it to the station and had interfered. It really looked like the redhead was ready to kill this guy.

Claire hugged him and sobbed against his neck. "I'm sorry, I swear I stepped off with them and then he had to go back for that STUPID toy!" She was furious; on top of everything, it had to be because of something related to Josh.

Owen looked down to her eyes paying attention to what she was saying. He rubbed her back gently and kissed her forehead softly, "We will find them, I promise."

"Why are you being so nice to me? I ripped your head off for losing sight of Mason for five minutes and then I go lose your daughter on the train in New York City." She sobbed, "yell at me or something!" She shook him lightly from his shirt.

"I hate seeing you crying." He frowned, ignoring her demand. He tilted his head and brushed her tears away.

"I know you are here just because your daughter is missing too, but I can't imagine how I'd be if —"

"No, I'd be here regardless. You call me every time you need someone, okay?" Owen insisted. He was freaking out, too. But after the day she had spent with Claire, he knew the redhead needed someone to support her, a team player — someone who would bring to the table things she couldn't. Right now she was taking care of everything and what she needed was someone to keep her sane, so he was going to do his best and try be that person for her.

Claire looked up and fixed her eyes on his, she nodded and peck his lips before hugging him. "I feel so helpless." She sniffed.

"Everything you can do in this kind of situation, you did when raising him." Owen assured her.

She snorted, "Five minutes with him will have anyone wondering if I ever did!" She rolled her eyes.

"He is a smart kid." Owen smiled. "And you babe? You are Wonder Woman." He cupped her cheeks gently, "You are juggling eight balls in the air." He was impressed, "You have all your bases covered, I'm sure this one is not an exception." He knew they had to leave this in the hands of the authorities, and trust that the kids would know what to do in this circumstance instead of wonder around town.

"You really think I'm Wonder Woman?" Claire nibbled on her lips softly.

Owen shook his head, his fingers brushing her hair and tucking it behind her ear. "You are hotter." He winked and pressed his lips against her forehead. "I'll ask for an update, why don't you go sit over there~I'll be right back." He promised, his hands taking hers and kissing them gently.

The redhead sobbed and nodded. She went take a seat on the bench he had suggested and waited for him. Never in her life had time gone so slowly. She felt like she had been sitting there all night, waiting for Owen to come back with an update.

He had stopped by a venting machine while waiting for the guy to contact the other subway stations. He sat next to Claire who looked pale and like she could throw up at any second. He had gotten her a Sprite and a package of chocolate cookies, it had already been an hour since she had called him.

He opened the soda for her and handed it over, Claire smiled and took a sip before offering him some. He cracked a cookie and brought it to her lips, she smiled a little more and let him feed it to her.

"Are you cold, babe?" He ran his arm around her shoulders to keep her warm but she shook her head. He wished he had a jacket with him to offer.

"I mean yes, but it doesn't matter. What did they say?" She asked, resting her head against his shoulder.

Owen sighed, "nothing yet."

Mason and Lizzie had broken record on how long they had been able to stay well behaved. They did as the kind lady told them too and stepped off the subway with her. The first thing she did was contact the person in charge to her subway station. Once they gave their names, they started to inform the rest of the stations that they had located a pair of kids.

The lady found a bench and sat with them to wait, her own daughter asleep against her shoulders. She reached into her purse and found some cookies she could share with the kids. "Any if you guys is allergic to peanut?" She asked opening the package for them.

The kids shook their heads and thanked her for the snack. Mason hated this kind of cookies even if they were Lizzie's favorite, but quietly made an exception and started nibbling on one.

Claire was blushing and chuckling to herself. She hid her face into the crook of his neck and held him tight, "Are you going to share what's so funny?" He wondered softly.

"I've been trying to figure out a way to replace Lizzie for you, and the most realistic way I could think of was giving you another one." She shrugged blushing red, rolling her eyes playfully.

Owen laughed and kissed her temple, "I'll take you on that." He wiggled his eyebrows.

She pushed him from his shoulder playfully before nosing gently. She chucked and then she got serious for a moment, "any woman would be so lucky to have you as the father of her children." She sobbed.

He smiled and parted his lips to talk but their conversation was interrupted, "Ms. Dearing, we located your children."

It was another fifteen minutes before Mason could hear the peculiar clicking of her mother running in heels against the pavement. "That's my mom!" He told the woman and in seconds the redhead was rushing towards him.

The kids jumped up and met their parents half way. She pulled Mason up on her arms and held him tight, "don't you ever pull this stuff on me again, okay!?" She demanded, crying lightly and kissing his cheek and his forehead. Owen was also hugging his daughter up in his arms, making sure she was okay.

"Thank you..." Claire's voice broke when finally acknowledging the woman who had taken care of the kids until making sure they were reunited with their parents.

"It's nothing. I'm a mother myself, I know you'd have done the same." She nodded and offer a light smile. Claire smiled back and nodded, "I have to get going, but don't worry about it." The woman added and gathering her things, she walked away.

The redhead sighed and hugged Owen, the four of them in a warm embrace for a few seconds, "do you think we all four can ride back on my bike?" He teased her.

* * *

Claire and Owen were finally having that quiet moment they had been seeking for since noon that day, the kids were fast asleep on her bed after watching a movie. Both parents on her couch, Owen had his arm around her shoulders, holding her close. Their fingers intertwined while his hand hung from her shoulder.

The redhead nosed gently against his jawline and slowly fixed her green eyes on his. Owen smiled down, his hazel ones hypnotized by the gentle way she was flirting with her eyes.

He reached out with his other hand, his fingers softly caressing her chin and slowly tilted her head up. She smiled softly, her eyes dropping down to his lips for a second before she moved them back up to make eye contact with him.

Her other hand running around his neck and slowly bringing his head down. They took a second to let their lips brush, Claire closed her eyes and smiled against his lips. They both leaning closer, meeting half way. The redhead parted her lips and welcomed his with a warm soft kiss.

He tasted the soft texture of her lower lip, the redhead softly poking the tip of her tongue enabling him to kiss her deeper. Owen adjusted and pulled her closer to him, wrapping her in a warm embrace. He wanted to keep her safe, assured her that from now on she wouldn't have to do this alone.

~ **The End** ~

* * *

 ** _A/N:_** I hope you guys enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it, and that you fell in love with Mason and Lizzie as much as I did! I'm very opened to the possibility of writing a sequel, so if you are interested... please let me know! We all need a little motivation from time to time :)


	10. Epilogue

It was until her green eyes slowly opened when Claire realized she was curled up on Mason's bed, she had a colorful dinosaurs fleece blanket covering her up. The redhead slowly sat up and ran her fingers through her messy hair, she was still wearing the same dress from the previous day. How had she ended up there? The last thing she remembered was sitting on the couch with Owen, she blushed at thought of the kiss they had share and bit on her lower lip.

Then it hit her—was he still out there? She slowly walked to the door and leaned over, poking her head out. She could hear him humming to himself, yes...he was definitely still there. Claire tried fix her hair the best she could and took a few seconds in front of the mirror hanging by Mason's closet. She then went looking for some candy, mints if there were any. All she could find was some of that disgusting bubble fruit toothpaste Mason used. She had made him keep it in his room after constantly mistaken the tube with hers. She figured it would have to do. She squeezed a little of it on her finger and wrinkling her nose, she tried rub it on her teeth and her tongue hoping it would refresh her breath.

It was until she made it to the kitchen when she realized Owen was cooking breakfast, sort of. "Hey~" She offered shyly, her cheeks pink.

"Good morning beautiful." He had a bright grin on his face. A box of those toaster waffles Claire kept for Mason were by the stove and he had a couple of those in a pan.

"What are you doing?" She chuckled softly, watching the man flip the waffle with an spatula. She had inched closer and was standing by his side now.

"I wanted to make breakfast, you have to go grocery shopping. I couldn't find anything!" He smiled down, fixing his eyes on hers.

She nodded and played her fingers through the edge of the counter. She was quiet for a few seconds, Owen had set those two waffles on a plate and was working on heating a couple more.

"This is—-okay, right? That I took the liberty to look around and fix us something to eat?" He tilted his head.

"No, yeah. Absolutely." Claire nodded. "It's just that...no guy has ever—" She blushed and looked away. "Thank you." She offered after shaking her head.

"You're welcome..." Owen stepped closer and let his finger reach out and tilt her chin up. "Did my gesture earn me a kiss?" He offered a side smirk.

Claire was gently caressing his chest, at his question she blushed and bit on her lip. "You don't have to ask permission, you know?" She gulped softly, her lips almost brushing his.

"I know...but I'm afraid I won't be able to stop otherwise." Owen murmured, his arms hugging her waist and pulling her closer.

"Maybe I don't want you to~" She confessed, her hands running around his shoulders. She slowly closed her eyes and moaned lightly at the taste of his lips kissing her. He was such a great kisser, both the kiss from the previous night and this one had been able to send shivers up her spine.

"Good to know..." He added softly against her lips before going for another kiss. Her own nibbling on his lower one. She had her hand resting on the back of his neck, his body shifting and trapping her against the stove counter.

Their tongues slowly making it deeper. The redhead gently pulled back after a few seconds, "you know~" She tried to talk, but Owen kept stealing pecks from her. "I haven't really done this since Mason's dad." She blushed. That was almost five years, it was a very long time. It wasn't like she had time for anything, she was always working so she could provide for her kid and he was a handful on top of that.

"I understand." He nodded. He knew this would take a lot of patience and understanding. It wouldn't be like any other dating, he didn't want it to be. "I know the two of you have your own little thing going on and I'll respect that." He promised before leaning over and going for another kiss.

"Okay, with that said~" Claire smiled glad he did. She kissed him back softly and tenderly at first, but then he started moving his hands up her back and she found herself curving her body against his. The sound of their kisses filling the kitchen. She couldn't bring herself to stop her hands from massaging his pectorals, feeling his frame pressing her tightly against the counter while their lips increased the urgency between them.

Her ears trained, she could hear Mason's footsteps down the hallway. She pulled back and stepped to the side, casually cleaning the side of her lips.

"Mommy?" The seven-year-old called out before stepping into the kitchen. For a moment his brain went blank, a frown expressing his confusion.

"Yes, hun?" Claire casually walked towards the fridge and brought out some orange juice.

"Why is Owen here?" He completely forgot what he was going to say. "Were you kissing him!?" Mason was grossed out. "Why is he burning our waffles?"

"Oh shit—" Owen turned to look to the pan that had completely been forgotten and after turning the stove off, he disposed the overdone waffles.

"Is our toaster broken?" Even Mason knew those were for the toaster and not to cook.

"Why so many questions?" Claire avoided answering all of them but Mason was still frowning and he wouldn't keep his eyes away from Owen. Never in his life had he woken up to find some guy standing in his kitchen burning his waffles, as a matter of fact.. never in his life had there been a man in his house period.

"He is here because Lizzie is here." She stuttered.

"Brenda doesn't do that." At almost eight years, Mason (and any of his peers) knew and understood more about sex than parents would want to accept.

Claire sighed and nodded her head, "Come here." She offered her hand and after offering Owen an apologetic look, she and Mason headed to his room, they found a half asleep Lizzie heading towards the kitchen on their way there.

Upon closing the door, the redhead pulled her kid up and sat him on the edge of his bed next to her. She sighed and fixed her eyes on her son, they were the same shade of green as hers and they even had the same expression. "Things might change a little bit." She smiled softly, pushing his dark hair back.

"Change how?" He wondered, that frown still wrinkled between his brows.

"You like Owen, don't you?" She tilted her head. She knew Mason would take a big part on her going forward with whatever was growing between her and the man standing in her kitchen.

Mason pursed his lips and nodded. "He is cool. He taught me how pee like a dude yesterday." Owen's words, not his.

Claire sighed at the mention of that, "I'm sorry I never did, but that's a dude's kind of thing." She chuckled, trying to distract herself before tearing up.

"There are a lot of things that are dude stuff, aren't there?" Mason frowned, looking down to his hands.

The redhead nodded, his question a thin dagger stabbing her heart. She knew the older he got, the more he would need a male guidance and someone to ask questions. "Maybe Gray or Zach can start helping you out with things you might have questions about." She reached out for his hand and squeezed it.

"You like him, don't you?" Mason wondered, looking up and making eye contact with his mom.

"I do." She murmured and smiled softly. "I like him a lot, actually." She admitted after seeing Mason smiling. "He is here because we like each other, and if it's okay with you, he might start hanging out here with me once in a while." She frowned, brushing her fingers through his hair.

"And me?" Mason tilted his head. "Would he also hang out with me when he is here?"

The redhead nodded and pressed her lips against his forehead, "Yeah, you can hang out with him, too."

"Okay." The kid nodded and gently hugged his mom from her waist. "You have to work today, don't you?" This wasn't the first time Claire had to work on a Saturday after missing a few hours throughout the week.

"Yes, I have to work for those hours we spent at the zoo."

"How many is that?" Mason asked.

Claire took his hand and started to count the hours, "well, that's from eight til two, so lets see..." she counted "from eight to nine is one hour." She started, pointing his index finger out.

"From nine to ten is two!" He followed until he counted all six hours before Claire explained they had to subtract her lunch hour, making it five hours the ones she had to work that day. "Can I hang out with Owen and Lizzie while you work?" He hopped he could.

"We can ask them, or you can come with me." She bit on her lower lip.

Mason nodded.

"Wanna go out there and have breakfast with Lizzie and Owen?" She suggested, her arms still wrapped around him.

Mason nodded and pulling back, he jumped off the bed and headed out of his room, Claire following.

"Is everything okay?" Owen asked once Claire was back in the kitchen, Mason already sitting at the table next to his best friend.

"Yeah." Claire nodded and hesitantly pecked his lips, not really used to showing affection in front of her kid.

Owen nodded and taking her hands on his, he brought them to his lips and kissed them gently. "So what are your hours today?" He asked about work.

"Five hours," Claire licked her lips and brushed her forehead with her fingers. "I'm heading there as soon as I can find—"

"Lizzie and I were doing some talking of our own, too." He cut her off, "We wanted to ask if it'd be okay with you for Mason to came with us to the mini golf."

Claire's eyes grew soft, "you are offering to take care of him while I work." She sobbed and nibbled on her lower lip, her arms gently holding him close.

"And maybe we can join you for lunch and all four of us can hang out for a bit." He smiled big, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"I would love that." She nodded and unable to hold back, she leaned over and kissed him lovingly, her fingers keeping his jaw steady while she led the kiss.

"Ewwwwwwww." Both kids sang in choir.

"Get used to it, because it's happening a lot from now on." Owen brushed the kids off, his eyes on the beautiful redhead he had in his arms.


End file.
